Beth Emeth Congregation, 13702 W. Meeker Blvd., will host a Yom HaShoah program with guest speaker Dr. Ruth Callahan 2 p.m. Sunday, April 16.

The program will discuss the Nazi regime’s idea of “racial purity,” its origins in the early 20th century concept of eugenics and the creation of associated institutes and facilities like Castle Hartheim in Lower Austria. Now, Hartheim has become more than a memorial to the dead. Instead, in its commitment to remembrance and teaching, as one of the plaques at its entrance declares, Hartheim celebrates “the truth of the worth of all people and an inherent right to life.”

Callahan taught in the English and Humanities Departments at Glendale Community College for nearly 25 years. In 2010, she developed the Introduction to Holocaust Studies course for the Maricopa County Community College District, a course in which approximately 2,700 students in seven of the community colleges have since enrolled.

For several years, through the Maricopa Colleges Study Abroad Program, she taught students on a month-long course in Prague, which included visiting Theresienstadt, Auschwitz-Birkenau and other significant sites, with her students engaging in special, extended, educational tours.

In 2013, on Yom HaShoah, Callahan was presented the Phoenix Holocaust Survivors’ Association’s Shofar Zachor Award. As a result of her work with the Holocaust, she was invited to participate in seminars in Auschwitz and Yad Vashem in Israel and has spoken, beyond Maricopa, in Washington, DC, Las Angeles and Philadelphia.