Totalitarianism Scholar to Deliver Multiple Lectures Nov. 8-9
Baylor University will host Dr. Gerhard Besier, director of Germany's Hannah Arendt Institute for Research on Totalitarianism, for a series of three lectures Nov. 8-9. The lecture series, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the division of German and Russian in the modern foreign language department, the J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies, the department of political science and the Center for International Education.
Besier will present his first lecture - "Current Church-State Relations in Germany" - at given at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 8 in Carroll Library, room 315. The second lecture, in German, is titled "Das Leben in der DDR" (Aspects of Life in Former East Germany) will be presented at 10 a.m., Wednesday, Nov. 9, in the Gregory Room of the Bill Daniel Student Center. The final lecture - "Hannah Arendt and Origins of the Hannah Arendt Institute for Research on Totalitarianism" - will be given at 3:30 p.m. Nov. 9, in Morrison Hall, room 120.
With doctorate degrees in theology and history, Besier is internationally known for his research, which provides both national and international perspectives to the intersections of the state, religion and society. In conjunction with his position as director of the Hannah Arendt Institute, he is professor for totalitarianism research at the Technical University of Dresden. Before coming to Dresden in 2003, he was a professor at the University of Heidelberg. His most recent book is on the Vatican's involvement with Hitler's Germany, and he is also the editor of Totalitarianism and Democracy: An International Journal for the Study of Dictatorship and Liberty.
For more information, contact Dr. Jennifer Good, assistant professor of German, at (254) 710-6542 or Jennifer_Good@baylor.edu .