# "Never Forget. Never Again."
The United Nations General Assembly designated January 27—the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau—as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a time to remember the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and the millions of other victims of Nazi persecution. Around the country and the world, Holocaust victims are mourned and remembered by the reading of their names, by the lighting of candles, and by learning about the Holocaust. This year’s theme is “Learning from Genocide for a Better Future." 2025 marks the 80th anniversary.
Lit Chat Interview with Rebecca Brenner Graham
This week, we talk with the author of Dear Miss Perkins: A Story of Frances Perkins's Efforts to Aid Refugees from Nazi Germany. This brand-new book (released January 21, 2025) is a fascinating portrait of the progressive female trailblazer and US Secretary for Labor who navigated the foreboding rise of Nazism in her battle to make America a safer place for refugees.
As Hitler rose to power, thousands of German-Jewish refugees and their loved ones reached out to the Immigration and Naturalization Service—then part of the Department of Labor—applying for immigration to the United States, writing letters that began “Dear Miss Perkins . . .” This outstanding, inspiring new narrative of the first woman to serve in a president’s cabinet reveals the full, never-before-told story of her role in saving Jewish refugees during the Nazi regime. As Secretary of Labor, she wrestled widespread antisemitism and isolationism, finding creative ways to work around quotas and restrictive immigration laws. Diligent, resilient, empathetic, yet steadfast, she persisted on behalf of the desperate when others refused to act.
Register to attend online
Join us Friday, January 31, at 1 p.m., live on Zoom. This Lit Chat Interview is a 60-minute (virtual) program consisting of a 40-minute conversation between author Dr. Rebecca Brenner Graham and Professor Jennie Ziegler, followed by 20 minutes of audience Q&A.
Dr. Rebecca Brenner Graham is a postdoctoral research associate at Brown University who has a PhD in history from American University. She previously taught at the Madeira School and American University. In 2023, she was awarded a Cokie Roberts Fellowship from the National Archives Foundation and a Rubenstein Center Research Fellowship from the White House Historical Association. Her writing has been published in The Washington Post, Time, Slate, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere.
Read the book
Check out Rebecca’s debut novel from the Library!
Did you know that all of our Lit Chat authors' books count toward your Jax Stacks Reading Challenge completion? Find out what authors we're hosting and join in on the fun!
The Holocaust Collection
Did you know our Special Collections Department maintains a circulating collection of materials related to the Holocaust? Located on the 4th floor of the Main Library, the Holocaust Collection is made possible in partnership with Remembering for the Future Community Holocaust Initiative. It catalogues the history, events and aftermath of the Holocaust through books, recordings, films and other items, including eyewitness accounts from 16 local Holocaust survivors (available on DVD).
