2026 Holocaust Memorial Lecture - Fragile Witnesses: Holocaust Sites in an Age of Climate Uncertainty

Lecture Description : The Cohen Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies will feature Dr. Steven Cooke as the 2026 Holocaust Memorial Lecturer. His lecture is entitled "Fragile Witnesses: Holocaust Sites in an Age of Climate Uncertainty."

Holocaust memorial sites face an uncertain future. Now over 80 years since the end of the Holocaust, the generation of survivors who experienced the events firsthand is passing, Holocaust denial and distortion is growing, and climate change is adding new threats — storms, floods, and rising sea levels accelerating the physical decay of sites that bear witness to genocide.

These pressures create dilemmas both conceptual and practical. How do we understand the role of these sites as 'witnesses' when the witnesses themselves are gone? And for those responsible for managing them, the options are uncomfortable. Expensive restoration is often out of reach, but allowing sites to decay raises serious ethical problems — the physical fabric of these places is frequently legally protected and serves as evidence of historical crimes. There are no easy answers.

This lecture examines case studies from Europe and Australia to explore what managing Holocaust heritage means in practice, and what is at stake for their role as sites of memory.

Speaker Bio : Dr. Steven Cooke is an internationally recognized expert in the heritage of difficult histories. His career spans academia and senior leadership positions in cultural heritage organizations across the UK and Australia. He has held positions at the University of Stirling, the University of Hull, and Deakin University, as well as the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) and the Shrine of Remembrance. From 2024 to 2025 he was CEO of the Melbourne Holocaust Museum, and he is currently Executive Director of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria. In 2015 Dr. Cooke was appointed by the Australian Government to sit on the Australian delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), and is Deputy Chair of its Safeguarding Sites Project, which produced the IHRA Charter for Safeguarding Sites — the first internationally agreed heritage charter for Holocaust-related sites. He has published over 40 scholarly works, including three monographs in the fields of history, heritage, and memory. He holds honorary positions at Deakin University, the University of Melbourne, and the University of London.

Registration : This event is free and open to everyone, but advanced registration is required. It will be hosted in person on the campus of Keene State College and will also be accessible via livestream. The hard deadline to register for in-person attendance is Tuesday, September 15, 2026. We will not be able to register any additional guests for in-person attendance after that time.

REGISTER HERE FOR IN-PERSON ATTENDANCE (link coming soon!)
REGISTER HERE FOR LIVESTREAM (link coming soon!)

Guests attending this event in person are also invited to join us for a brief reception follow the lecture from 7:00-7:30 pm.

Security Protocols : Doors will open to registered attendees beginning at 5:30 pm. Photography and videography are prohibited at this event. Please note that this event will follow the Cohen Institute's standard security protocols for large events. There is a "no bags" policy in effect for this event, meaning that attendees cannot bring regular backpacks, purses, or other bags into the event. The only exceptions are totally clear bags (that do not exceed 12" x 6" x 12") as are commonly used at sports stadiums and other venues. Additional security protocols may be implemented leading up to or at the event as needed.

Additional Information : The lecture is made possible through donor funding as well as support from the Keene Endowment Association. If you would like to make a gift to support this lecture or other Institute offerings, please visit our website.

This year's Holocaust Memorial Lecture is part of a 2026-2027 series on "Genocide and the Environment" being offered by the Cohen Institute. Speakers in this series represent a wide range of scholarly research and views; our guests' perspectives should not be taken as representative of the Cohen Institute or Keene State College as a whole.

This event is part of the Cohen Institute calendar.