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In community partnership with the Holocaust Center for Humanity in Seattle, Western's Ray Wolpow Institute for the Study of Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity is pleased to announce a free online event on Tuesday, July 28, from noon to 1 p.m., when Tom White, coordinator of Educational Outreach for the Cohen Center for Holocaust Studies at Keene State College in New Hampshire, will present "Jim Crow Laws and Nazi Racial Policy: How the United States Influenced Hitler."

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"As the Nazis began to coordinate and crystalize their racist program in the early 1930s, they looked for legal precedence that could help shape their own work within the German legal system. They found this precedent in U.S. legislation and initiatives, such as racist-based immigration laws and disenfranchisement of minorities," said White. "The Nazis explored ways to legitimize their racial state by exploring what worked and what did not work within U.S. race-based laws and practices. Utilizing American ideas not only helped the Nazis craft the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, it also helped them cement their power."

Tom White served on the Diocese of Manchester's Diocesan Ecumenical Commission for Interfaith Relations; serves on the Board of Directors of the Association of Holocaust Organizations (AHO); has participated as observer and facilitator in the Global Raphael Lemkin Seminar for Genocide Prevention at the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation; received NEA New Hampshire’s Champion of Human and Civil Rights Award in 2009; and in 2015 was named a Peace Ambassador by the Center for Peacebuilding from Bosnia and Herzegovina.