Holocaust History: Crimes of the Wehrmacht at APSU on April 4

By: Kara Zahn March 14, 2024

Photo: Dr. David Snyder, professor of history at APSU, presents a Holocaust lecture. Snyder’s research interests include Nazi Germany, the Holocaust and military justice.

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Austin Peay State University (APSU) History Professor Dr. David Snyder and the Tennessee Holocaust Commission will host a Holocaust lecture on April 4, 2024, from 7-8 p.m. at APSU in the Gentry Auditorium, located inside the Kimbrough Building. The event is free and open to the public, with preregistration required. 

The lecture will focus on "Crimes of the Wehrmacht: The German Army and Genocide on the Eastern Front, 1941-1945" and will be presented by Snyder.  

"Until very recently, historians assumed that the German army was not involved in Nazi genocide and the Holocaust, that the Wehrmacht had ‘clean hands,’” Snyder said. “We now know that is not true, that the German army was actually deeply involved in Nazi crimes. This is the story I will share at the event."  

Snyder is a professor of history at Austin Peay State University. He specializes in researching Nazi Germany, the Holocaust and military justice and is also a fellow of Northwestern University’s Summer Seminar on the Holocaust and Jewish Civilization. His book, “Sex Crimes under the Wehrmacht,” was nominated for the American Historical Association’s Herbert Baxter Adams Prize in 2008.  

Established in 1984, the Tennessee Holocaust Commission works to educate Tennesseans about the history of the Holocaust, seeking to remind citizens that prejudice, hatred and violence, as manifested in the Holocaust and other genocides, lead to the destruction of a humane society.  

For more information and to preregister online, visit www.tnholcom.org.