WEST WINDSOR – The portrayal of the Holocaust in recent feature films – and the emergence of some problematic trends – is the topic of an upcoming lecture at Mercer County Community College (MCCC).

“The Holocaust in Recent Feature Films: Problematic Trends and Themes” is the title of a lecture by Dr. Jonathan C. Friedman, Professor of History and Director of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at West Chester University, which will be delivered on Wednesday, April 18, at noon in the Communications Building, Room 109. His talk is part of MCCC’s spring 2018 Distinguished Lecture Series at the West Windsor Campus, 1200 Old Trenton Road. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Friedman will discuss the representation of the Holocaust in recent films, focusing on three problematic trends: the reversal of perpetrator and victim archetypes, conflation of comedy and drama, and the use of the Holocaust as a surrogate for nationalist narratives.

Friedman has served as historian at the United States Memorial Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., and Survivors of the Shoah visual History Foundation in Los Angeles. His first book, The Lion and the Star: Gentile-Jewish Relations in Three Hessian Communities, 1919-1945, was declared one of 1988’s outstanding academic books. His most recent publications include Rainbow Jews: Gay and Jewish Identity in the Performing Arts, Performing Difference: Representation of the ‘Other’ in Film and Theatre, and The History of the Holocaust.

Friedman received his B.A. in History from Kent State University and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Maryland, College Park.

For more information on MCCC’s Distinguished Lecture Series, call (609) 570-3324 or visit www.mccc.edu/events.