Film Screening Final Account and Zoom Discussion -

Watch the film from home: February 7-14, 2022

Join zoom Discussion Final Account: The Difference Between Transformative and Performative Accounting Post-Holocaust: February 16, 2022 | Noon PST, 3pm EST

Please join Amanda Byron Singer, Tamara Meyer, and Robbie Schaefer to reflect on the film, Final Account, in light of their experiences in Germany this past November. Jewish Remembrance Week in Goertlitz focused on the importance of recognizing the vitality of Jewish life in Goerlitz prior to World War II, and paved the way for new opportunities for accountability and transformation. The nature of performative apology will be explored in contrast to transformative apology, in terms of what constitutes a “final” accounting in the aftermath of atrocity.

Final Account is an urgent portrait of the last living generation of everyday people to participate in Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich. Over a decade in the making, the film raises vital, timely questions about authority, conformity, complicity and perpetration, national identity, and responsibility, as men and women ranging from former SS members to civilians in never-before-seen interviews reckon with – in very different ways – their memories, perceptions and personal appraisals of their own roles in the greatest human crimes in history. Watch the trailer here.

The program is co-sponsored by the Holocaust and Genocide Studies Project at Portland State University, the Never Again Coalition, and OJMCHE.

We are grateful for your participation and encourage you to consider supporting our virtual programs.

Tamara Meyer is a child of German Jewish Holocaust survivors who has been honoring her family legacy for the past two decades by teaching and using the lessons of the Holocaust to promote dialogue and reconciliation and do her part to ‘Tikkun ha Olam’ repair the world. As a participant in dialogue groups in Berlin that include former Nazis, Holocaust survivors, and their descendants, Tamara has experienced first-hand the extraordinary challenge of engaging with those who at another time in history would have been her fiercest enemies. Her experiences with Nazi/Survivor groups in Germany have led her to engage with former White Supremacists and neo-Nazis in the United States with whom she often teaches. A child of a Kindertransport survivor, Tamara has been active in educating the public about this holocaust narrative. As an event planner and media coordinator for international Kindertransport conferences attended by survivors, their families, and dignitaries she has helped bring the Kindertransport story to people throughout the world and continues this work through her writing and teaching. For the past decade, Tamara has been hosting monthly second generation Kindertransport/Holocaust gatherings in the Washington DC area and beyond.

Robbie Schaefer is a musician, songwriter, and playwright devoted to service through the arts. The guitarist and songwriter for the indie folk band Eddie From Ohio has also recorded several solo albums, including 2017′s Sounds Like Home: Songs From the Musical, Light Years. Robbie is the founder of OneVoice, an international non-profit that unites and empowers youth through music and the creative arts. The organization has on-going projects in Tanzania, Nicaragua, India, Greece, and Israel. Robbie has shared the stage with Jason Mraz, Sara Bareilles, Josh Groban, Keb ‘Mo, and Emmylou Harris, among others. His first work for musical theater, Light Years, had its world premiere at the Tony Award-winning Signature Theatre in 2018 and is currently in pre-production as a feature film. His newest work for theatre, The Blue Poppy, is a collaboration with Scottish playwright Grace Barnes, and is due for production in 2023. Also, he likes olives. A lot.

Amanda Byron Singer is a social justice educator with over 30 years of experience working with diverse communities to heal trauma and transform conflict. Dr. Singer is an Associate Professor in Conflict Resolution at Portland State University, where she directs the Holocaust and Genocide Studies Project, coordinates the Holocaust and Genocide/Atrocity Prevention Graduate Certificate, and focuses her teaching and research on unsettling the role of identity in conflict, understanding enmification and hatred as root causes of violence, and developing peacebuilding strategies to prevent mass atrocities. Current research interests are focused on the restoration of dignity in the aftermath of atrocity, and the active role of imagination in possibilizing a welcoming future.