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Boatlift
11 AM LOS ANGELES • 2 PM NEW YORK
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On the 21st anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, the Sousa Mendes Foundation pauses to remember the nearly 3,000 Americans who lost their lives, and also to acknowledge the inspiring bravery shown by first responders and everyday citizens on that tragic day. One of the most notable acts of valor was the maritime evacuation of Lower Manhattan – the largest water evacuation in American history – in which 500,000 people were transported to safety by hundreds of vessels that answered a call from the U.S. Coast Guard to converge on New York Harbor to aid in the evacuation. This extraordinary rescue was memorialized in a short documentary film Boatlift, narrated by Tom Hanks, that tells the story of the largest sea evacuation since Dunkirk in June 1940. This short film will be sent to all of our subscribers on the morning of Sunday, September 11, 2022. Then tune in at 2 PM ET for a discussion of the two greatest boatlifts in history.
The Vatican and the Holocaust
1 PM LOS ANGELES • 4 PM NEW YORK
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Many people are aware of the failure of Pope Pius XII to speak out against Nazi Germany’s persecution of the Jews during the Holocaust. But few people know that his predecessor, Pope Pius XI, had prepared an address to the world’s Catholics on this very topic in collaboration with an American Jesuit priest and human rights activist, John LaFarge Jr. But Pope Pius XI suddenly died the night before the scheduled speech, and the existence of the planned Encyclical was then suppressed by the Vatican. A fascinating and tragic story of “What if?”
The U.S. and the Holocaust
4 PM LOS ANGELES • 7 PM NEW YORK
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The U.S. and the Holocaust is a three-part, six-hour PBS series directed by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein, that examines America’s response to one of the greatest humanitarian crises of the twentieth century. Americans consider themselves a “nation of immigrants,” but as the catastrophe of the Holocaust unfolded in Europe, the United States proved unwilling to open its doors to more than a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of desperate people seeking refuge. Through riveting firsthand testimony of witnesses and survivors who as children endured persecution, violence and flight as their families tried to escape Hitler, this series delves deeply into the tragic human consequences of public indifference, bureaucratic red tape and restrictive quota laws in America. Did the nation fail to live up to its ideals? This is a history to be reckoned with.
Secret Lives: Hidden Children and Their Rescuers During World War II
1 PM LOS ANGELES • 4 PM NEW YORK
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During the Second World War, some tens of thousands of Jewish children were saved from almost certain death by non-Jewish neighbors, friends, or even — in many cases — total strangers. These rescuers, men and women of uncommon decency, did everything from bringing Jewish children into their families under false identities to securing hiding places in closets, attics, or hastily-dug bunkers. What happened between these children, their parents, and their rescuers is the focus of Aviva Slesin‘s groundbreaking film, Secret Lives.
Disobedience: The Sousa Mendes Story
11 AM LOS ANGELES • 2 PM NEW YORK • 7 PM LISBON
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Please join us for a film-and-discussion program featuring the award-winning docudrama Disobedience: The Sousa Mendes Story by Joel Santoni and starring Bernard Le Coq as the Holocaust rescuer Aristides de Sousa Mendes.
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No Place on Earth
1 PM LOS ANGELES • 4 PM NEW YORK
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An extraordinary story! In 1942, 38 men, women and children slid down a cold, muddy hole in the ground, seeking refuge from the war above in a pitch-black underground world where no human had gone before. These five Ukrainian Jewish families created their own society where young men bravely ventured into the harrowing night to collect food, supplies and chop firewood. The girls and women never left, surviving underground longer than anyone in recorded history. Held together by an iron-willed matriarch, after 511 days, the cave dwellers, ages 2 to 76, emerged at war’s end in tattered clothes, blinded by a sun some children forgot existed. Despite all odds, they had survived. (more…)
Heroes of the St. Louis
1 PM LOS ANGELES • 4 PM NEW YORK
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Many people are familiar with the tragic story of the St. Louis ship, whose nearly 1000 Jewish passengers were turned back to Europe after they were refused entry by Cuba, Canada, and the United States. But few are aware of the bravery of the ship’s captain, Gustav Schroeder, who was declared a Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem, and of Morris Troper and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Thanks to their strenuous efforts, the passengers were permitted to disembark in the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, and France, rather than returning to Nazi Germany. As a result, the passengers had a chance of surviving the ordeal, and many hundreds of them did. Meet Dr. Hans Fisher, who was one of these survivors, and Scott Miller, who is a leading world expert on this story.
Sister Rose’s Passion
1 PM LOS ANGELES • 4 PM NEW YORK
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A celebration of the extraordinary life and work of Sister Rose Thering and her successful quest to rid Catholic School education of anti-Semitism. Rose was a young nun in the Dominican order, determined to stop the Catholic Church from teaching hate, and prove that the doctrine blaming Jews for the death of Jesus was irreconcilable with her notion of a loving God. Rose’s efforts paved the way for the historic Vatican II Council and the papal encyclical that reformed the Church’s teachings about Jews. She later became a renowned Holocaust educator and received the Courage to Care award from the Anti-Defamation League.
A Celebration of Life! The Rescue Mission of Mr. & Mrs. Kraus
1 PM LOS ANGELES • 4 PM NEW YORK
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Heartwarming and uplifting! In the spring of 1939, Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus, a Jewish couple from Philadelphia, embarked on a risky and unlikely mission. Traveling into the heart of Nazi Germany, they rescued 50 Jewish children from Vienna and brought them to the United States.
Exodus — The Ship that Launched a Nation
11 AM LOS ANGELES • 2 PM NEW YORK
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The story of the Exodus, the ship that carried 4,500 Jewish refugees from Europe to Palestine in 1947, encapsulates the essence of Israel’s creation — a journey, an exodus — from the hellish depths of the Holocaust to the exhilarating heights of independence and nationhood.