Expert talk with Dovi Seldowitz

Join us at the Museum for this lecture about the wave of antisemitic incidents that occurred all around the world during 1959-60, which would become known as the “1960 Swastika Epidemic”.

The spread of this contagion of hate in Australia prompted a vigorous response from religious and civic leaders, including from Prime Minister Robert Menzies. What can this episode tell us about Australian antisemitism? Are there patterns we might recognise today?

This talk will critically evaluate some of the coverage of the episode in the mainstream press and will contrast the response of Jewish figures and political leaders.

ABOUT OUR EXPERT

Dovi Seldowitz is a PhD student in Sociology at the University of New South Wales. He directed and curated the 2022 B’nai B’rith Kabbalah Exhibition and was the recipient of the UNSW University Medal in Sociology and Anthropology for his Honours thesis on Hasidic women’s leadership. In 2024, Dovi was the Museum’s Lotte Weiss Memorial Visiting Scholar, researching the religious activism of Rabbi Dr Israel Porush and his efforts to combat antisemitism in Australia.