During her installation ceremony on March 20, Erin McGlothlin, the Gloria M. Goldstein Professor of Holocaust Studies, delivered an address titled “The Abiding Question of My Scholarly Life.”
Erin McGlothlin was installed as the Gloria M. Goldstein Professor of Holocaust Studies on March 20. The program included a welcome from Feng Sheng Hu, the Richard G. Engelsmann Dean of Arts & Sciences and Lucille P. Markey Distinguished Professor; remarks from Matt Erlin, chair of Comparative Literature and Thought; and the installation and medallion presentation by Provost Beverly Wendland.
In her remarks, McGlothlin emphasized the significance of Holocaust representation in literature and film, particularly in narrative depictions of Holocaust perpetrators in fiction and nonfiction. “I have come to realize with clarity and a sense of purpose that the complex, immense, and at times confounding history, legacy, and representation of the Nazi genocide of the European Jews is a subject that will continue to engross me, to challenge me, and to provoke far more questions than I will be able to answer,” she said.
McGlothlin thanked her family, peers, and students for supporting her journey in scholarship and research. “I have been so fortunate over the course of my career to have been surrounded by a great many people who are inspiring, encouraging, resourceful, and dedicated to deep, scholarly inquiry and the careful education of students — ethically minded and wicked smart,” she said. “My flourishing as a scholar, a teacher, a leader, and as a person is a testament to the mutually supportive community I have found in WashU over the last 23 and a half years.”
About Erin McGlothlin
Erin McGlothlin is the Gloria M. Goldstein Professor of Holocaust Studies, a professor of German and Jewish Studies, and vice dean of undergraduate affairs at WashU. As vice dean, McGlothlin is responsible for the university’s liberal arts curriculum and every phase of student life, from admission through graduation and postgraduate success. She is passionate about the value of a liberal arts education and seeks to create challenging and enriching educational experiences for undergraduates across all areas of study. She and Professor Brian Carpenter co-lead Literacies for Life and Career, an extensive curricular initiative under the Arts & Sciences Strategic Plan.
McGlothlin’s research and teaching interests focus on fictional and non-fictional works of Holocaust literature and film. She is the author of numerous scholarly articles as well as two monographs: “Second-Generation Holocaust Literature: Legacies of Survival and Perpetration” (2006) and “The Mind of the Holocaust Perpetrator in Fiction and Nonfiction” (2021). She has also co-edited four volumes: “After the Digital Divide?: German Aesthetic Theory in the Age of New Digital Media” (2009), “Persistent Legacy: The Holocaust and German Studies” (2016), “The Construction of Testimony: Claude Lanzmann's Shoah and its Outtakes” (2020), and “Lessons and Legacies Vol. XV: The Holocaust; Global Perspectives, National Narratives, Local Context” (2024). Together with Stuart Taberner, she is co-editor of the forthcoming Cambridge History of Holocaust Literature, which aims to set the path of scholarly discourse on the literature of the Holocaust for the next 25 years. Additionally, she has published articles in major journals and edited volumes on fictional and non-fictional works of Holocaust literature and film as well as on topics such as the generational discourse on the Holocaust, the narrative structure of Holocaust literature and film, perpetrator representation and perpetrator trauma, and ethical questions related to Holocaust representation.
About The Goldsteins
In honor of his wife, Gloria M. Goldstein, Samuel R. Goldstein established a professorship in 1980 to “complement existing programs at Washington University in Jewish Studies” and “to utilize and strengthen the extensive Judaica collections in the John M. Olin Library.”
The Goldsteins had strong ties to the university. Gloria, who died in 1975, studied occupational therapy. Samuel was awarded the university’s 2nd Century Award in 2000. After graduating from Brooklyn College, Samuel served in the Army Air Corps at Scott Air Force Base, where he met his future wife on a blind date. After the couple married in 1945, Samuel joined his father-in-law’s company, later known as Apex Oil Corporation. Through Samuel’s leadership, Apex was transformed from a small oil terminaling company into a multibillion-dollar international oil trading, refining, and marketing empire.
Samuel was committed to using his wealth for the benefit of causes and charities that had meaning in his life. An unpretentious man who cherished his privacy, he carried out his philanthropy either anonymously or through gifts in his wife’s name. WashU was among the many beneficiaries of his generosity to the St. Louis community. In addition to this professorship, he established the David Rabinovitz Scholarship in the George Warren Brown School of Social Work, supported the Danforth Scholarships, made a large gift to the School of Medicine in honor of Dean William Peck, and provided leadership support to the Campaign for Washington University. Mr. Goldstein died in 2000.
