The University of Florida’s Bud Shorstein Center for Jewish Studies will host a free public lecture on Monday, Oct. 19, examining the history of philosemitism in Europe since the Holocaust and whether that era is coming to an end.
“Philosemitism in Europe Since the Holocaust: The End of an Era?” will take place from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in the Ocora Room at Pugh Hall (296 Buckman Dr., Gainesville). The lecture is part of the Forum for Fairness in Discourse Lecture Series and will also be livestreamed for those unable to attend in person. Light refreshments will be served beginning at 3 p.m.
Click here to RSVP to the event. Parking is available in the Murphree Lot, and guests may be dropped off in front of Pugh Hall before parking.
The event will also be livestreamed at shorstein.ufl.edu/livestream. A parking map is available at the UF College of Liberal Arts and Sciences website.
The lecture will feature G. Daniel Cohen, the Samuel W. and Goldye Marian Spain Professor of History and Jewish Studies at Rice University in Houston. Cohen will trace the development of attitudes toward Jews, Judaism and Jewish identity in Western Europe and the broader European Union in the decades following World War II.
Although antisemitism persisted after the Holocaust, new attitudes increasingly welcomed Jewish people and their presence in mainstream politics and culture. Cohen will examine how this shift transformed Europe’s relationship with its Jewish communities and consider whether the trend has weakened in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.
Cohen is the author of “Good Jews: Philosemitism in Europe Since the Holocaust,” published by Cambridge University Press in 2025.
Norman J.W. Goda, the Norman and Irma Braman Professor of Holocaust Studies at UF, will also be featured. Goda specializes in modern European history, particularly the Holocaust, war crimes trials and 20th-century diplomacy. He has served as a consultant to the U.S. and German governments and to radio, television and film documentaries in the United States, Europe and Israel.