Dr. Hanno Berger
- Assistant Professor of Film Studies
- Fellow, Miriam Lewis Barnett Chair
The Miriam Lewis Barnett Chair for studies related to the Holocaust, genocide and human rights was established in 2020 by Mitchell L. and Miriam “Mimi” Lewis Barnett. The Barnett family’s history of support for Holocaust remembrance began with Mimi Barnett’s parents, Leah and Paul Lewis, who began promoting the cause after the end of World War II. In 2002 the couple established the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies’ first endowed faculty position, the Leah and Paul Lewis Chair of Holocaust Studies. In 2018 they endowed the Mitchell L. and Miriam Lewis Barnett Lecture Series as part of the Annual Scholars’ Conference on the Holocaust and the Churches. Berger, who is a Fellow of the Miriam Lewis Barnett Chair, is the inaugural holder of the position.
“This endowment enables the continued study of the Holocaust, and it also enables keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive for future generations.”
Dr. Hanno Berger is a scholar who believes that lessons about the Holocaust, totalitarianism and political evils can be found not only in history and philosophy books, but also in the arts. Films, he said, are a powerful way to understand political questions.
Berger teaches film studies in the Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology. He also focuses on the Holocaust, genocide and human rights in the school’s Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies.
His recent research examined the writings of Hannah Arendt, a German-born Jewish political theorist who fled to the U.S. during World War II and wrote and lectured on totalitarianism, politics, and the nature of power and evil.
Berger previously served in postdoctoral research assistant positions at Freie Universität Berlin in Germany and at Vanderbilt University. He earned his doctoral, master’s and bachelor’s degrees in film studies from Freie Universität Berlin.
He recently published a book, Thinking Revolution Through Film: On Audiovisual Stagings of Political Change, and he has written numerous book chapters related to film studies.