In Spring 1967, history teacher Ron Jones conducted a social experiment in fascism with his class of 10th-grade 15-year-olds. In a social studies class at Cubberley High School, Palo Alto, students were given the opportunity to experience the rise and attraction of Nazism, complete with drill-like discipline, salute, banners, and membership cards. Within a week the experiment began to spin out of control. Over the years the story of “The Wave” has attracted widespread attention through films, books, plays, and musicals.

The screening of Lesson Plan (dir. Philip Neel) is followed by a conversation featuring Ron Jones and former students Mark Hancock and Philip Neel. It is moderated by Dr. Joel Dimsdale, Professor of Psychiatry emeritus and the author of Dark Persuasion: A History of Brainwashing from Pavlov to Social Media (Yale University Press, 2021). For more information on The Wave please visit thewavehome.com.

Registration is open and required.

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About the Holocaust Living History Workshop

This event is a part of the Holocaust Living History Workshop (HLHW) series, an education and outreach program sponsored by the UC San Diego Library and the Jewish Studies program. It aims to preserve the memories of the victims and survivors of the Holocaust by offering public events involving witnesses, descendants and scholars and through the use of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute’s Visual History Archive. Past HLHW workshops are now part of the Library’s digital collections and can be accessed online here.

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Sponsors: Nancy and Joel Dimsdale

Image credit: HISTORY