Groundbreaking International Program for Medical, Law, Journalism, and Seminary Students
50 Students Will Take Part in the Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics
New York, NY—This summer, a distinguished group of 50 law, medical, journalism, and seminary school students will participate in Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics (FASPE), a groundbreaking two week program in New York, Berlin and Poland, focusing on contemporary ethical issues facing their professions using the Holocaust and the conduct of their professions in Nazi Germany as a framework for study.
FASPE law and journalism participants will begin orientation at the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust on May 25. Medical and seminary students will begin on June 26. Orientation will include visiting the Museum’s exhibits, meeting with Holocaust survivors, and working with FASPE staff and guest scholars to study background about the Holocaust. The first leg of the European portion is in Berlin, where the Fellows focus on exactly what their profession did during the Holocaust. In Poland, the Fellows then travel to Oświęcim, the town the Germans called Auschwitz, where they will tour Auschwitz-Birkenau, and discuss contemporary ethics in their chosen profession.
Topics for the FASPE programs for medical students include Nazi Doctors; Racial Hygiene, Murder, and Genocide; and Eugenics and the Euthanasia Program of the Nazis. The law students’ discussions will include: Breaching Government Secrecy and Obedience to Authority. Topics for the journalism program include: Ethical Challenges of Reporting on Human Rights Abuses; The Relationship Between State Authority and Journalism; and Media’s Role in Creating and Remembering Historical Narrative. The seminary students will discuss Christian Churches and Military Chaplains in Nazi Germany, Post War Reconciliation, Apologies, and Confessions; and Dealing with Religious Extremism. The program’s medical and law programs will be facilitated by faculty from Yale University, including Dr. Mark Mercurio, Dr. John S. Hughes, Professor Robert Burt, and Yale alumni Amos Friedland. The journalism program will be led by Columbia University professors Ari Goldman and Andie Tucher. The seminary program will be led by John Langan, SJ and Professor LeRoy Walters of Georgetown University. FASPE is under the auspices of the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust.
FASPE’s goal is to provide tomorrow’s leaders with opportunities to increase their awareness and preparedness for the ethical issues that they will confront in their professional careers. FASPE Founder C. David Goldman says that “FASPE raises the question of what roles the professionals played in the Holocaust and what can be derived from history that can inform future professional leaders.”
Law students chosen this year come from: Yale University, Duke University, New York University, University of Michigan, University of Virginia, and Babes-Belyai University in Romania. Medical students are from: Harvard University, Yale University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Pennsylvania, the Cleveland Clinic, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, and Weill Cornell Medical College. Journalism students come from: Columbia University, Carleton University, Georgetown University, New York University, and CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. Seminary students come from: Hartford Seminary, Boston College, Fuller Theological Seminary, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, Seattle University School of Theology and Ministry, Boston University School of Theology, American Jewish University, Yale University Divinity School, Yeshiva University, Divinity School, University of Chicago, Catholic Theological Union, and Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.
About FASPE
The Fellowships provide law, medical, seminary, journalism, and business students with a structured program of study that initially focuses on the role of their chosen professions in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, and uses that historic focus as a framework for the consideration of contemporary ethical issues. FASPE is predicated upon both the potent symbolism of Auschwitz and the Fellows’ personal experience while in Germany and Poland to help the Fellows explore the power, potential, and challenges of their chosen professions.
FASPE is working in cooperation with Jagiellonian University, Krakow; the Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz, Berlin; and the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Oświęcim, Poland; and in collaboration with Yale Medical School, Yale Law School, Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, and Georgetown University.
Further information about partners and supporters, as well as a video about FASPE can be found on www.mjhnyc.org/faspe. Interviews with students and faculty participants can be set up upon request.
Lead support for FASPE is provided by C. David Goldman, Frederick and Margaret Marino, and the Eder Family Foundation. FASPE is also supported by the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research, and other generous donors.
About the Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
The Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust is located on the waterfront at 36 Battery Place in Manhattan’s Battery Park City. Through groundbreaking award-winning exhibitions, world class education, and public programs, the Museum honors those who died by celebrating their lives—cherishing the civilization that they built and the vibrant Jewish community that is their legacy today, and learning from their history.
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