Professor John Roth

Professional Background

Professor John Roth received his Ph.D and M.A. in philosophy from Yale University and B.A. from Pomona College. During his fellowship at the Museum, he was the Edward J. Sexton Professor of Philosophy at Claremont McKenna College and Director of its Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights. For his Ina Levine Invitational Scholar Fellowship, Professor Roth conducted research for his project “In the Shadow of Birkenau: Ethical Dilemmas during and after the Holocaust.”

Professor Roth has earned several fellowships and awards for his commitment to teaching. In 1988, he was named the National Professor of the Year by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He held a Koerner Visiting Fellowship for the Study of the Holocaust at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies in Oxford, United Kingdom and was a Visiting Professor of Holocaust Studies at the University of Haifa, Israel; a Fulbright Lecturer in American Studies attached to the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Education, Research, and Church Affairs, Oslo, Norway; a Fulbright Lecturer in American Studies at the University of Innsbruck, Austria; a Visiting Professor of Philosophy at Franklin College, Lugano, Switzerland; and a Visiting Professor of Philosophy at Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan.

In addition to lecturing widely throughout the United States and around the world, Professor Roth has authored, coauthored, or edited more than 35 books and has published hundreds of articles and reviews. His books include a revised edition of Approaches to Auschwitz: The Holocaust and Its Legacy, with Richard L. Rubenstein (Westminster John Knox Press, 2003); Holocaust Politics: Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust, with Carol Rittner (Leicester University Press, 2002); Will Genocide Ever End? (Paragon, 2002); and Private Needs, Public Selves: Talk about Religion in America (University of Illinois Press, 1997). Professor Roth has served on the Museum’s United States Holocaust Memorial Council, and at the time of his fellowship chaired the Readers Committee for the Elie Wiesel Prize in Ethics. As Vice Chairman of Remembering for the Future, he helped organize an international conference on the Holocaust and genocide that brought more than 600 scholars from over 35 countries to Oxford University in July 2000.

Fellowship Research

While in residence at the Center, Professor Roth conducted research and writing on his project, “In the Shadow of Birkenau: Ethical Dilemmas during and after the Holocaust.” In February 2005, Professor Roth delivered the annual Ina Levine Annual Lecture. He also participated in a number of the Center’s scholarly programs and led a month-long seminar for Museum staff and fellows on “Ethics during and after the Holocaust.”

Professor Roth was in residence at the Mandel Center from August 23, 2004 to May 23, 2005.