The WJU History Club, the city of Wheeling, and "Lovescaping"

Wheeling Jesuit University's History Club recently participated in the "All We Need Is Love" initiative sponsored by the Ohio Valley Young Preservationists. In order to highlight the historic structures located in downtown Wheeling, local college students and residents "adopted" various buildings and decorated them with a Valentine's Day theme. This "lovescaping" not only illustrates the importance of these locations; it also emphasizes local residents' interest in the future of the city.

Holocaust Researcher to Speak at Wheeling Jesuit University

On Tuesday March 18, at 7pm in Troy Theater, Father Patrick Desbois, founder of the Holocaust research center Yahad-In Unum and author of the book The Holocaust by Bullets: A Priest's Journey to Uncover the Truth Behind the Murder of 1.5 Jews, will discuss his research and experiences in Ukraine.

A French priest based in Paris, Father Desbois has been featured in profiles by CNN, the New York Times, NBC Nightly News, and Moment Magazine among others. His organization, Yahad-In Unum, is dedicated to rescuing the memories of the Jews murdered by the Germans at the edge of pits and in fields, forgotten by history. For more on his organization, please visit his organization's website, http://www.yahadinunum.org/.


Earlier this month, Father Desbois was awarded the Prix du CRIF 2014 (Prize of the Council of Jewish Institutions of France). French President Francois Hollande congratulated Desbois and his organization for the vital role they play in not only advancing historical research on such an important topic but also for allowing the memory of these forgotten victims to be reclaimed.

The event is free and open to the public.

WJU Historian at Work: Part II

Dan Weimer's 2011 publication, Seeing Drugs: Modernization, Counterinsurgency and U.S. Narcotics Control in the Third World, 1969-1976, was followed in 2012 by Nazi Policy on the Eastern Front, 1941: Total War, Genocide and Radicalization, co-edited by Wheeling Jesuit University's Assistant Professor Jeff Rutherford. The latter book was just released in paperback this month.

The three editors -- in addition to Rutherford, the Frankfurt, Germany-based independent historian Alex J. Kay and David Stahel, lecturer at the University New South Wales Canberra, Australia -- first conceived of the volume at the Society for Military History's 2007 conference both as a means to introduce current research trends in Germany to an English-language audience and as a means of providing an examination of the pivotal year of 1941.

WJU & the Fulbright Commission's German Studies Seminar

Participants in the 2013 Fulbright German Studies Seminar in Cologne

This past June, Assistant Professor of History Jeff Rutherford was chosen by the German Fulbright Commission to participate in its annual German Studies Seminar. Members of the seminar examined the numerous challenges facing Berlin, the capital of the unified German state. While Berlin possesses a cultural heritage and importance second to none in Germany, its desire to remain, in the words of its mayor, "poor but sexy" has become increasingly difficult due to economic realities that have left the city with a very small manufacturing base and growing population that is straining the city's welfare system.

WJU Historian at Work

WJU's Daniel Weimer, Associate Professor of History, recently published a monograph on American drug policy during the 1970s. In his Seeing Drugs: Modernization, Counterinsurgency, and U.S. Narcotics Control in the Third World, 1969-1976, Dr. Weimer highlights the interaction between American foreign policy and the opening rounds of the drug wars that have characterized American policy during the last three decades of the twentieth century. 

Published by Kent State University Press, Seeing Drugs explores how Thailand, Burma and Mexico were deemed the key opium and heroin producing and trafficking nations during the early and mid-1970s. The book also looks at how those respective governments tried to halt drug trafficking and production in those countries.

"I explain why the United States relied upon modernization and counterinsurgency theory to solve the drug problem," he said.

Wheeling Jesuit University & Classrooms Without Borders

At 7pm on November 10, Wheeling Jesuit University will host an event in Troy Theater publicizing its partnership with Classrooms Without Borders (CWB). CWB is a Pittsburgh-based organization dedicated to improving Holocaust education in the greater Ohio Valley. Led by Dr. Zipora Gur, CWB provides educators and students the opportunity to increase their general knowledge of the Holocaust as well as give teachers the necessary tools to transmit this knowledge to their students in the classroom.

WJU, the Republic of Georgia and Stalin

It's been a while since anything has been posted on this blog, but as the WJU History Department prepares for its upcoming trip to Berlin in May 2014, we will be adding some new content in the coming weeks, including information on our cooperation with the Holocaust education group Classrooms Without Borders, possible guest speakers on Wheeling Jesuit's campus and some of the activities of our students and faculty. 

We'll start with an update on our alumnus Aaron Simpson, who is currently serving in the Republic of Georgia as a member of the Peace Corps, and his visit to the the Stalin museum and birth house.

With the "Uncle Joe" of American wartime propaganda