Preserving Memory: The Shoah at the Crossroad of Generations

The Cardinal Bea Centre is pleased to invite you to the conference "Preserving Memory: the Shoah at the Crossroad of Generations", organized in collaboration with the Israeli Embassy to the Holy See under the patronage of the Dicastery for Culture and Education. This event takes place on the significant occasion of the eightieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War. The conference aims to explore how the memory of the Shoah can be preserved, taught, and passed on in a historical phase in which direct testimonies are increasingly rare and younger generations are more distant from the events.

In the two sessions, this theme will be addressed with a particular focus on educational processes, featuring contributions from leading scholars and Italian and international institutions that offer educational programs on the Shoah and its remembrance.

This conference will take place just a few days after the passing of Pope Francis and is in line with the mission that Francis reminded the Center of when we met him in 2019. I would like to quote a passage he addressed to the Jewish professors of the Bea Center: "You are teaching in an environment where your very presence represents a novelty and already sends a message. How can we introduce students to authentic dialogue without knowledge from within? Dialogue calls for hearing two voices, and the witness of Jewish and Catholic instructors who teach together is worth more than many speeches."