HIST-297WWII-W01 Introduction to WW II Seminar
Winter 2014 semester - Monday 6:00 – 8:00 at the Silversides Museum
January 6: Introduction & Pre-WW II overview
Hosts: George Maniates & Kurt Troutman
Guest Speaker: Mr. Bill Jacobks, MCC Professor: The Meaning of WW II
January 13: Muskegon’s Ghost Mountain Boys
Host: George Maniates
Guest Speaker: James Campbell, Author, Ghost Mountain Boys-Their Epic March
through New Guinea
Invited Guests: Stanley Jastrzembski, Donald Stout, Russell Buys,
Lloyd Gongalski, Carl Stenberg
January 20: German Blitzkrieg
Host: Kurt Troutman
Featured Speaker: Mr. Bill Jacobks, MCC Professor-The Mind of Adolf Hitler
Guest Speaker: Dr. Dan Collison-Psychological profiles.
January 27: Hitler’s Dilemma-Consolidate gains or expand opportunities?
Host: George Maniates
Featured Speaker: Mr. Nicholas Budimir MCC faculty
Guest Speaker: Ms. Peggy Maniates, USS Silversides Submarine Museum Archivist
“From the Archives”
Feb 3: Operation Barbarossa-Russia Be damned!
Host: George Maniates
Featured Speaker: Dr. David Stahel, Lecturer in European history at the
University of New South Wales in Canberra, Australia, Author of Operation Typhoon:
Hitler's March on Moscow, October 1941 (Skype Lecture)
Feb 10: Battle for Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima
Host: Kurt Troutman
Featured Speaker: Mr. Dan Weikel, USS LST 393 Veteran’s Museum Curator
Guest Speaker: Fred Bertsch: Native WW II Sons of Muskegon!
Feb 17: Pearl Harbor-Awaking a Sleeping Giant
Host: Kurt Troutman
Featured Speaker: Ron Janowski, Ret. Colonel US Army, JROTC Instructor Muskegon
Public Schools
Guest Speaker: Ms. Peggy Maniates, USS Silversides Submarine Museum Archivist
“From the Archives”
Feb 24: No Classes-Winter Break
March 3: Muskegon-The Arsenal of Democracy
Host: George Maniates
Guest lecturer-Dr. Daniel Yakes, MCC Professor Emeritus.
Special Guest: Ms. Mackenzie Brandel, Whitehall High School student, Billie the
Riveter-Women in the WW II Workforce
March 10: The Air War over the Pacific and Muskegon’s Ike Kepford & Walter Sprowls
Host: Kurt Troutman
Featured Speaker-Mr. John Stephenson, LST 393 Veteran’s Museum President
Guest Speaker: Mr. Don Goodman: MCC goes to War
Guest Speaker: Nicholas Budimir, Germany’s War in the Balkans
March 17: Operation Overlord-The Invasion of Europe
Host: George Maniates
Featured Speaker, Mr. John McGarry, Director Muskegon Lakeshore Museum CenterJumpin Joe Beyrle, Muskegon’s Hometown Hero
Guest Panelists: Ambassador John Beyrle, Julie Beyrle-Schugars, Joe Beryle II
Moderated by the Honorable Judge Neil Mullally
March 24: Battle of the Bulge
Host & Featured Speaker: Kurt Troutman
Guest Speakers: Debi Hollis & Russell Levine,
The Michigan WW II Legacy Memorial
Guest Speaker: LT Col. Ronald Janowski
Pearl Harbor-Awakening a Sleeping Giant
March 31: War and Justice: Forgotten Casualties
Host Kurt Troutman
Featured Speaker: Dr. Katharina Von Kellenbach, Professor of Religious Studies at St.
Mary’s College of Maryland and author of The Mark of Cain: Guilt and Denial in the
Post War lives of Nazi Perpetrators. (Skype Lecture)
Guest Speaker: Rev William Freeman: Restorative Justice
April 7: The Holocaust
Host: Kurt Troutman
Featured Speaker: Mr. Martin Lowenberg, Holocaust Survivor, Holocaust Memorial
Center, Zekelman Family Campus
April 14: The Siege of Berlin-VE Day and the life of German people
Host: George Maniates
Featured Speaker: Ms. Kathy Tosa, MCC Department Chairperson:
Wartime German life: A new normal
Guest Speaker: Luise Calkins, WW II survivor from Mainz, Germany
Guest Speaker: Dr. Dale Nesbary, A father’s service and post war life
April 21: The USS Flier
Hosts: George Maniates & Kurt Troutman
Featured Speaker: Dr. Frank Marczak, Director USS Silversides Submarine-The USS
Flier in the Pacific Theater
Honored Guests:
Dr. David Stahel, Lecturer in European history at the University of New South Wales in Canberra,
Author of Operation Typhoon: Hitler's March on Moscow, October 1941
Dr. Katharina Von Kellenbach, Professor of Religious Studies at St. Mary’s College of Maryland and
author of The Mark of Cain: Guilt and Denial in the Post War lives of Nazi Perpetrators.
James Campbell, Author, Ghost Mountain Boys-Their Epic March through New Guinea
Dr. Dale Nesbary, President Muskegon Community College
Russell Levine, Michigan WW II Legacy Memorial
Martin Lowenberg, Holocaust Survivor, Holocaust Memorial Center, Zekelman Family Campus
Reverend William Freeman, Minister, Harbor Unitarian Universalist Church, Muskegon, MI
Fred Bertsch, Ret. Capt. US Navy
Ron Janowski, Ret. Colonel US Army, JROTC Instructor Muskegon Public Schools
USS LST 393 Veteran’s Museum Curator, Dan Weikel
USS LST 393 Veteran’s Museum President, John Stephenson
USS Silversides Submarine Museum Director, Dr. Frank Marczak
USS Silversides Submarine Museum Archivist, Peggy Maniates
Muskegon Lakeshore Museum, Director John McGarry
Whitehall High School Student McKenzie Brandel
MCC Department Chair Kathy Tosa
MCC Professor David Takitaki
MCC Professor Nicholas Budimir
MCC Professor Donald Goodman
MCC Professor Bill Jacobks
MCC Professor Dr. Dan Collison
MCC Professor Dr. Dan Yakes
Weekly Format :
15-20 minute Topical Overview-Host: George Maniates or Kurt Troutman
40-50 minute featured speaker
20-25 minute guest speaker
5-10 minute wrap-up summary-George Maniates or Kurt Troutman