The Holocaust
AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Joshua Teplitsky
I’m pleased to be offering this in-depth interview with author Joshua Teplitsky, who has been showered with enthusiastic reviews for his recently-published book about David Oppenheim — PRINCE OF THE PRESS; HOW ONE COLLECTOR BUILT HISTORY’S MOST ENDURING AND REMARKABLE JEWISH LIBRARY. David Oppenheim (1664 – 1736) was among the most influential Jewish intellectuals of his day.…
Read MoreINTERVIEW: Auschwitz Exhibit Organizer Luis Ferreiro
Musealia Director Luis Ferreiro is a moral and organizing force behind the profoundly important exhibit “Auschwitz. Not Long Ago. Not Far Away.” Having achieved admirable success in Madrid, Spain — where the exhibit period was twice extended due to public demand — the Auschwitz exhibit will open in May of 2019 at The Museum of Jewish…
Read MoreDr. Marion Kaplan’s Upcoming Book on Jewish Refugees
The Stolpersteine at Kurfürstendamm 185 in Berlin, commemorating my paternal grandparents’ plights. **** The Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) I got placed for my paternal grandparents outside their last Berlin residence note that in fleeing Hitler and the Nazis, my grandparents found temporary refuge in Portugal. I therefore read, with poignant interest, Dr. Marion Kaplan’s fascinating paper “Lisbon is Sold…
Read MoreDr. Marion Kaplan on Women and the Holocaust
(Dr. Marion Kaplan speaking at Northwestern University in 2018. On the screen, Joan Ringelheim, one of the founders of the field. Photo via Facebook) Marion Kaplan, Ph.D., Skirball Professor of Modern Jewish History at New York University, is a three-time National Jewish Book Awards winner. In a series of posts, I will be featuring highlights…
Read MoreLITERARY LIGHT ERIKA DREIFUS
I’m proud and excited to be offering this interview with literary light Erika Dreifus. Reviewing Dreifus’s short story collection QUIET AMERICANS for The Quivering Pen, David Abrams said: “She’s a classic storyteller and there’s a clear, direct line from Isaac Bashevis Singer and Bernard Malamud to her 21st-century keyboard.” I highly recommend following Erika Dreifus…
Read MoreJewish Museum’s Christoph Kreutzmüller
(Christoph Kreutzmüller) Dr. Christoph Kreutzmüller, a German scholar, has done seminal work, creating a database of businesses that were Jewish-owned in Nazi-era Berlin. As I’ve said previously, Christoph’s sleuthing for his book FINAL SALE IN BERLIN, The Destruction of Jewish Commercial Activity, 1930-1945 fills a gap in the record that so frustrated me while I was seeking restitution for…
Read MoreA Compelling Jewish Film
David Paul works as a judge in New York City. GERMAN SHEPHERD is a powerful short documentary of his attempts at coming to terms with the Holocaust, Germans and Germany. Directed by Nils Bergendal, the short premiered in 2014 and has enjoyed, deservedly, huge success on the film festival circuit. I find GERMAN SHEPHERD compelling, and believe you…
Read MorePreserving German-Jewish Culture
(Dr. William H. Weitzer, Executive Director of the Leo Baeck Institute) Leo Baeck was a leading German-Jewish rabbi who, during World War II, turned down offers to be rescued into the United States, as he did not want to leave his fellow European Jews behind. Deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, he survived, though all…
Read MoreBerlin Storyteller Dennis Behnke
Dennis Behnke — known as ‘The Berlin Storyteller’ — offers a variety of guided tours of Germany’s capital city. You can learn about Dennis’s tours here. In this interview, I catch up with Dennis. 1) How did you come to call yourself ‘The Berlin Storyteller’? When I was 15 years old, my school class went on…
Read MoreDIRECTOR’S CORNER; ARNON GOLDFINGER
The Israeli filmmaker Arnon Goldfinger is a true cinéaste, whose films have won many prestigious awards. His revelatory documentary THE FLAT narrates his discovery of his German-born grandparents’ — the Tuchlers’ — unusual history with a Nazi, Leopold von Mildenstein. For The Journal for the Study of Antisemitism, I wrote a commentary on THE FLAT. In this…
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