The two world wars, genocide, and the Ukraine war

On June 20, the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings will host Annette Becker for the 18th annual Raymond Aron Lecture. In her remarks, Becker will discuss the connection between the two world wars and the war in Ukraine, genocide, and the return of war to the European continent. Following Becker’s address, Omer Bartov, Samuel Pisar Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University, will respond to her remarks.

Becker is a French war historian and expert in genocidal studies and the two world wars. She is a professor of contemporary history at Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense and a senior member of the Institut Universitaire de France. Becker has written extensively on the extreme violence of both world wars, focusing on military occupations, the Holocaust, and the Armenian genocide, devoting much of her research to humanitarian politics and trauma.

Suzanne Maloney, vice president and director of Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution, and Aurélie Bonal, the French deputy chief of mission to the United States, will provide welcoming remarks. Tara Varma, visiting fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution, will moderate the conversation. After the program, panelists will take questions from the audience.

The Raymond Aron lecture series, named after the renowned scholar of post-war France, annually features leading French and American personalities speaking on current issues affecting the trans-Atlantic relationship.