FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 7, 2003
CONTACT: Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119

DRAKE SPEAKER TO DISCUSS IOWA'S CONNECTIONS TO NAZI GERMANY

Michael Luick-Thrams, author of a book about the successful rescue of 186 refugees from Nazi Europe who found a haven at a former Quaker boarding school near West Branch, Iowa, will give a multimedia presentation Tuesday, Nov. 11, at Drake University.

The presentation, titled "Far from Hitler: Iowa's Connections to Nazi Germany," will start at 7 p.m. in Bulldog Theater, Olmsted Center, 29th Street and University Avenue. The event, sponsored by the Drake Center for Global Citizenship, is free and open to the public.

Luick-Thrams, now executive director of TRACES, grew up on a farm between Mason City and Clear Lake, Iowa. He graduated from Iowa State University, and went on to earn his Ph.D. in modern European history from Humboldt University in Berlin.

Under Luick-Thrams' guidance, an exhibit of documents, photographs, artifacts and interviews from the Scattergood Hostel for European Refugees has been developed. The exhibit will open at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 9, at The Caspe Terrace (home of the Iowa Jewish Historical Society), 3320 Ute Ave., Waukee, and continue through Jan. 11, 2004.