Posts Tagged ‘Berlin’
A 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 MoreAUTHOR’S CORNER: NOAH ISENBERG
Prominent author and film scholar Noah Isenberg will appear at the Leo Baeck Institute in New York City on Tuesday, September 13, 2016 to introduce a free screening of Billy Wilder’s film MENSCHEN AM SONNTAG (PEOPLE ON SUNDAY) and then again on Thursday, September 15 to introduce a free screening of Edmund Goulding’s GRAND HOTEL, adapted from…
Read MoreAuthor’s Corner: Gavriel D. Rosenfeld
On Wednesday, September 14, 2016, author and Fairfield University Professor of History Dr. Gavriel D. Rosenfeld will deliver remarks about Duki Dror‘s film MENDELSOHN’S INCESSANT VISIONS in connection with a screening of the movie at the Leo Baeck Institute, NYC. The film is about the influential German-Jewish architect Erich Mendelsohn. The event is free to the…
Read MoreAUTHOR’S CORNER: GREG MITCHELL
(NOTE: This post has been updated at the bottom with a sampling of enthusiastic reviews of Greg Mitchell’s THE TUNNELS) Award-winning author Greg Mitchell‘s past books include THE CAMPAIGN OF THE CENTURY, about Upton Sinclair’s gubernatorial race in California, and JOY IN MUDVILLE; A LITTLE-LEAGUE MEMOIR. In this interview, I catch up with Greg, whose…
Read MoreAuthor’s Corner: Ralph Blumenthal
Author Ralph Blumenthal, whose parents were born in Berlin, worked for 45 years for The New York Times, and still contributes to the paper regularly. I am pleased to present my interview of this outstanding writer. 1) Do you remember when you first heard about the Holocaust, and what you thought about it at the…
Read MoreInterview with Architect Peter Eisenman
Architect Peter Eisenman is famed for, among other buildings, the Wexner Center for the Arts, the Aronoff Center for Design and Art, and the City of Culture in Galicia, Spain. Eisenman also designed the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, located just one block south of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Recently, I spoke with Eisenman…
Read MoreNOVELIST GARY HAYNES
Gary Haynes writes terrific thrillers — his past novels include STATE OF HONOUR and STATE OF ATTACK. His upcoming novella is set in part in Berlin during the final days of World War II. I caught up with Gary for this interview. I understand that your next thriller is set partially in Berlin in the final days…
Read MoreYale Professor Jason Stanley
My cousin Jason Stanley — who often writes for The New York Times — is the Jacob Urowsky Professor of Philosophy at Yale University. My father Gerhard Intrator had a brother, Alexander, whose son Manfred was Jason’s father. As Jason and I have shared family roots in Berlin, I recently asked him several questions about that city.…
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