It’s tough to pin down just one title for Edwin Black — he considers himself to be a historian, a researcher, an investigative reporter and a supporter of the Jewish community.
Black will be a scholar-in-residence for a series of programs at Congregation Ohev Sholom at the beginning of November.
“The topics that I write about, that I speak about, no one else speaks about these topics. If there was someone else who could describe how IBM and General Motors collaborated with the Third Reich, they could get them,” Black said.
Black’s 11 award-winning bestselling books are “IBM and the Holocaust” (2001 and 2012), “Financing the Flames” (2013), “British Petroleum and the Redline Agreement” (2011), “The Farhud” (2010), “Nazi Nexus” (2009), “The Plan” (2008), “Internal Combustion” (2006), “Banking on Baghdad” (2004), “War Against the Weak”(2003 and 2012), “The Transfer Agreement” (1984 and 2009), and a 1999 novel, “Format C.” His enterprise and investigative writings have appeared in scores of newspapers from the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune to the Sunday Times of London, Frankfurter Zeitung and the Jerusalem Post, as well as scores of magazines as diverse as Playboy, Sports Illustrated, Reform Judaism, Der Spiegel, L’Express, BusinessWeek and American Bar Association Journal. Black’s articles are syndicated worldwide by Feature Group News Service.
In researching his 2001 book on the subject, Black said he found a lot of evidence that IBM sold its technology to the Nazis and provided support, knowing how they were using it to track down Jewish people and keep concentration camps organized.
The son of Holocaust survivors, Black has always had an interest in writing about Jewish topics.
“I always consider that my mission not only to document what happened but to investigate how it happened, who made it happen and who got off scot-free,” he said.
In addition to the Holocaust, Black has also written about terrorism, corporate corruption and academic fraud.
“The purpose is not just to expose and to document, but to expose and document in such a way as to shine a bright light on our path ahead of what we could or could not do to avoid this,” he said.
His three talks at Ohev Sholom and subsequent lectures at the University of Kansas and Emporia State University will mainly focus on his work related to the Holocaust. One will also address Israel and how it relates to international law.
“I bring out international law and historical activity that has been forgotten, and I do it in context and continuity,” said Black, who is based in Washington, D.C.
People who come see his presentations often express surprise afterward, according to Black.
“They always ask the same question: ‘Why didn’t anyone tell me this until now?’” he said. “… I have found no unique tragedies, and no group has a monopoly on evil. You can name the country, you can name the period, and I can tell you about the nightmares they’ve spawned.”
His discussion at KU will focus on how the German empire’s — and later, the Nazis’ — actions affected black people, both in Africa and beyond.
“We look at the first genocide of the 20th century. … The destruction of 90 percent of the Hereros (in present-day Namibia) was done by a contingent of Germans who became the founders of the Third Reich and who adopted their ideas to persecute the Jews,” Black said.
He was inspired to talk on the subject by a KU professor who is a descendant of a chieftain from that area.
Every event will have time for a question and answer session at the end.
“In the realm of Jewish journalists, he’ s really in a league of his own, having won awards for books and articles with a recognized name among Jewish cognoscenti,” said Rabbi Scott White of Ohev Sholom. “He’s very engaging and deeply knowledgeable.”
Black’s events at Ohev Sholom are co-sponsored by Suzanna Cohen Legacy Foundation, EMET, StandWithUs, American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurist and Scholars for Peace in the Middle East.
Edwin Black events
“How IBM Co-Planned and Organized the Holocaust”
6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 2, at Congregation Ohev Sholom
“The Farhud and the Arab-Nazi Alliance in the Holocaust”
12 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 3, at Ohev Sholom
“Israel and International Law: The Historical Underpinnings”
10 a.m., Sunday, *Nov. 4, at Ohev Sholom
“How IBM Co-Planned and Organized the Holocaust”
10 a.m. Monday, *Nov. 5, at Memorial Union Ballroom at Emporia State University
“Nazi Policy and Black Victims: From Africa to Berlin to North Carolina”
7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 5, at 2049 Malott Hall at the University of Kansas
*Edwin Black’s daughter Rachel Black will also perform her original song “Edyka” at Ohev on Nov. 4 and Emporia State on Nov. 5. For more information about “Edyka” see page 4.