The “Citizen Other:” Citizenship Stripping in Nazi Germany and the United States

Hitler’s government sought to violently redesign German society upon assuming power in 1933 by defining who belonged and who was excluded. During the same period, many in the United States saw America’s racial, religious, and ethnic identity in narrow and exclusive terms as well. In both Nazi Germany and the United States, leaders were determined to limit national belonging by denying civil rights and at times even stripping citizenship from those they sought to exclude. What were the similarities and differences between the two countries' views of race, rights, and belonging?

Dr. Amanda Frost and Dr. Wolf Gruner will discuss these questions in the 2022 Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Annual Lecture.

Speakers:

Dr. Amanda Frost, Ann Loeb Bronfman Distinguished Professor of Law and Government, American University

Dr. Wolf Gruner, Shapell-Guerin Chair in Jewish Studies and Professor of History, University of Southern California, Founding Director, USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research, Member, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Academic Committee