Dr Paddy McNally, principal lecturer in history and politics at the University of Worcester, will deliver the talk on Monday, January 27.
The talk will also mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
Dr McNally will focus on the observations of Victor Klemperer, a professor of romance languages at the Technical University of Dresden.
Mr Klemperer, born to a Jewish family, converted to Protestantism and married Eva Schlemmer, an ‘Aryan’.
He kept a secret diary from 1933 to 1945, documenting the increasing persecution of the German Jewish population.
Dr McNally said: “When we think about the Holocaust, we often think about the numbers of people killed.
“Sometimes it’s helpful to focus on the experiences of individual people because that can bring home the reality of how individuals were affected.”
He added: “Victor Klemperer is a hugely important figure, and his diary is unique.
“It records from the beginning of the Nazi regime up to the end of the war, and whenever a historian writes about antisemitism at this time, virtually all of them will refer to his diary because it was so comprehensive.”
Dr McNally’s lecture will delve into how Klemperer’s observations provide insights into the response of ‘ordinary Germans’ to the radicalisation of Nazi Jewish policy, culminating in the Holocaust.
The talk is open to all and will be held at the Hive Library from 6pm to 7pm.