The City of Iowa City’s Office of Equity and Human Rights will host a virtual webinar on Jewish refugees and their impact on the Iowa City area. The webinar is scheduled for noon to 1 p.m. on Monday, May 8, 2023.
"Panache Before the Shoah: The Effect of Jewish 1930s Refugees on Iowa City's Progressivism," presented by Dr. Jeannette Gabriel, will examine the immediate and long-term impacts of a small, but influential, wave of Jewish refugees into the Iowa City area in the 1930s. The webinar uncovers marginalized history concerning activities in the Iowa City area to resettle a group of young people, intellectuals, and political leaders fleeing Germany and Austria. Iowa City became a hub of refugee resettlement, from Jewish residents filing affidavits to extricate relatives to Quakers establishing a refugee compound. Some of the refugees quickly moved on to larger cities, while others became integrated in the community.
Gabriel is the Director of the Schwalb Center for Israel and Jewish Studies at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Gabriel's work examines historical interactions between marginalized communities throughout the global hinterlands, including examining pre- and post-WWII Jewish refugee resettlement in small towns throughout the Midwest. Gabriel received her PhD in Social Studies Education from the University of Iowa, a Masters in Labor and Employment Relations from Rutgers, and a BA in History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
For questions or if you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please contact Kristin Watson at 319-356-5015 or KWatson@iowa-city.org. Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow sufficient time to meet your access needs.
