University of Canterbury associate professor Susanne Ledanff delivered the 90-minute public lecture as part of her travelling exhibition "Anne Frank: A History for Today" which runs until September 14.
Dr Ledanff said she had always had an interest in the impact associated with the Holocaust and wanted people to be educated on the historical event.
"I am German myself and it is very much part of my history."
"Students should have the possibility to explore the Holocaust."
The lectures take listeners through the rise of anti-Semitism, and why and how to remember the Holocaust, she said.
"It is to deliver more background on how we came to the Holocaust. It also delivers context to how we came to be anti-Semitic."
Dr Ledanff has lived in New Zealand since 1995 and said the thing she found most moving in dealing with the Holocaust was seeing the monuments placed all around the world in memory of the event.
She will hold one more lecture at the museum starting at 10am today. Admission is $5.
