From Holocaust to Hope: A Talk by Holocaust Survivor Dr. Irene Butter

Free admission. Doors open at 6 pm for happy hour. Event begins at 7 pm. Grass Roots will be selling books at the event.

Irene Butter was born in Berlin in 1930. Her Jewish family fled to Amsterdam in 1937 to escape Nazi persecution, settling in the same neighborhood as Anne Frank. When the Nazis invaded, Irene’s family was sent to Camp Westerbork and, eventually, Bergen-Belsen, where she briefly re-encountered Anne Frank. Irene will discuss her Holocaust and refugee experiences, as well as her current peace work.

Dr. Butter is a Professor Emerita of Economics at the University of Michigan and the author of From Holocaust to Hope: Shores Beyond Shores, a memoir. In 2024, Dr. Butter received the German Order of Merit for her work in Holocaust Education. She is co-founder of the Raoul Wallenberg Medal and Lecture Series at the University of Michigan and a founding member of Zeitouna (lemon tree), an Arab/Jewish women’s dialogue group in Ann Arbor.

Lightbox Happy Hour Open