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Serge and Beate Klarsfeld are best known to the public as Nazi hunters. Thanks to their heroic efforts, Nazi criminals Klaus Barbie, Alois Brunner, Kurt Lischka and many others were brought to justice in Germany and France. In parallel with this effort is their tireless work to document the names, faces and lives of the murdered Jews of France. They also continue to speak up for an inclusive multi-ethnic Europe and against the rising tide of extremist right-wing political figures and parties. The new documentary film, KLARSFELD — A LOVE STORY, documents their extraordinary partnership for justice. They will be interviewed on this program by Peter Hellman. Not to be missed!
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This program features the award-winning film Who will write our history? on the true story of the resistance fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto who, in the face of certain death, systematically and heroically assembled and buried an archive to preserve the memories of their lives. In conjunction with the film screening, the Holocaust scholar Dr. Jud Newborn will put this inspiring story in the context of the wide variety of forms of Jewish spiritual and physical resistance practiced all across Nazi-occupied Europe. (more…)
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This is a film-and-discussion program about the movie version of Louise Borden‘s book The Journey that Saved Curious George. The delightful film Monkey Business: The Adventure of Curious George’s Creators explores the extraordinary lives of Hans and Margret Rey, the authors of the beloved Curious George children’s books. See the film, then join filmmaker Ema Ryan Yamazaki and historian Dr. Susan Zuccotti for a lively discussion. (more…)
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Hannie Schaft, the “girl with the red hair,” was a university student when Nazi Germany occupied the neutral Netherlands in 1940. Over the next five years she risked everything — her education, her safety, her family, and her life — in order to shelter her Jewish friends and become, along with her young comrades, the Oversteegen sisters, one of the Most Wanted resistance fighters in the country. (more…)
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Filmmaker Tanja Dammertz followed the Sousa Mendes Foundation’s pilgrimage tour Journey on the Road to Freedom in 2023 and produced this wonderful documentary film for the European cultural television channel, ARTE. It chronicles both the physical and emotional journeys of the participants as they confront childhood memories and long-buried family secrets. (more…)
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A compelling nonfiction graphic novel, Whistleblowers is the true story of four courageous individuals who risked their careers — or their lives — to confront the unfolding Holocaust. (more…)
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Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel fled Nazi Germany and became an authoritative voice not only in the Jewish community but in the religious life of America. His book, The Prophets, inspired Martin Luther King, Jr. to invite him to take a role in the Civil Rights Movement. Heschel was an outspoken critic of the Vietnam War, an advocate for Soviet Jewry and a pioneer of interfaith dialogue. Join the filmmaker Martin Doblmeier and Heschel’s biographer Rabbi Shai Held, for a riveting film-and-discussion program moderated by Dr. Shulamit Reinharz. (more…)
The Spanish island of Mallorca (or Majorca) has a secret history — a group of families who have been discriminated against for centuries because their surnames connect them to a once-suppressed Jewish heritage. Some members of these families have been inspired to return to the faith of their ancestors. American Jewish filmmaker Dani Rotstein tells their story. (more…)
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The Comité de Défense des Juifs was established in Brussels, Belgium in 1942 in order to protect the Jewish population from Nazi persecution. They assisted and hid approximately 10,000 adults and 3000 children, from 1942-44. Eighteen members of this group were honored in 2018 by B’nai B’rith International with the Jewish Rescuer Citation. See a touching film about this heroic group and their legacy. (more…)
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In this touching program, author Peter Hellman tells the story of the Holocaust rescuer Leokadia Jaromirska, Righteous Among the Nations. She rescued Shifra, a Jewish baby girl who had been abandoned near the fence of a convent in Poland and sheltered her during the war, sometimes in very perilous circumstances. Today, Shifra Ivri is in her 80s and lives in Israel. Before the program, see the touching film The Courage to Care, narrated by Elie Wiesel, about rescue throughout Europe during the Holocaust. (more…)