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Mendelssohn, the Nazis and Me
11 AM LOS ANGELES • 2 PM NEW YORK
7 PM LONDON
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Felix Mendelssohn was a child prodigy pianist and composer who was famous from a young age. Born into an illustrious Berlin Jewish family (his grandfather was the theologian Moses Mendelssohn who began the assimilation of Jews into German society), Felix was baptised Lutheran, along with his siblings, at the age of seven, in part because at that time Jews in Germany did not have full civil rights. For the rest of his short life (he died at age 38), Mendelssohn strove to unite the two religions in his music, continuing what his grandfather had begun. He became one of Germany’s most beloved composers, and millions of brides have walked down the aisle to his Wedding March. One hundred years later the Nazis came to power, banned Mendelssohn’s music in Germany and re-classified his (mainly Lutheran) descendants as Jews, threatening their lives. One of these descendants, the filmmaker Sheila Hayman, decided to tell her family’s story on screen. Her wide-ranging and fascinating film is about the madness of labels and the unifying power of music.
Sousa Mendes Remembered
1 PM LOS ANGELES • 4 PM NEW YORK
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On this Memorial Day program we honor the memory of the Holocaust rescuer Aristides de Sousa Mendes with a panel featuring former Congressman Tony Coelho, who was instrumental in bringing justice for this hero in his home country of Portugal, and two granddaughters of Sousa Mendes: Sheila Abranches-Pierce and Angelina Mendes Muetzel. The program will be moderated by Robert Jacobvitz, a pioneer in the effort to have Sousa Mendes recognized for his action to save Jews and other refugees from the Holocaust. (more…)
Ben Ferencz, World War II Veteran and the Last Surviving Prosecutor of the Nuremberg Trials, Interviewed by Dr. Yael Danieli
Special D-Day program! Benjamin Ferencz was the Chief Prosecutor for the United States in the Einsatzgruppen Case, which the Associated Press called “the biggest murder trial in history.” Twenty-two defendants were charged with murdering over a million people. He was only twenty-seven years old, and it was his first case. (more…)
The Rescuers
11 AM LOS ANGELES • 2 PM NEW YORK
7 PM LONDON • 9 PM JERUSALEM
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What is the mystery of goodness? This question is at the core of the film The Rescuers by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Michael King who examines the stories of a dozen diplomat rescuers during the Holocaust. The film follows Stephanie Nyombayire, a young Rwandan anti-genocide activist, and Sir Martin Gilbert, the renowned Holocaust historian, as they travel across 15 countries and three continents interviewing survivors and descendants of the diplomats. A powerful and important film!
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Weapons of the Spirit
1 PM LOS ANGELES • 4 PM NEW YORK
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Pierre Sauvage‘s acclaimed film Weapons of the Spirit tells the dramatic true story of the area of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, France, where as many as 5,000 Jews may have been sheltered by some 5,000 Christians during World War II. This is a story Sauvage was born to tell: born in Le Chambon as a hidden child in 1944, he returned to the village as an adult to probe and recount this unique “conspiracy of goodness.” (more…)
Let my people go! The Rescue of Soviet Jewry
1 PM LOS ANGELES • 4 PM NEW YORK
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The rescue of Soviet Jewry in the 1970s and 80s was a vast project involving grassroots initiatives working in partnership with the organized Jewish community and government officials. Meet Jerry Goodman, the founder and Executive Director of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry, and other activists who struggled on behalf of refuseniks trapped behind the Iron Curtain. (more…)
Salud y Shalom: American Jews in the Spanish Civil War
1 PM LOS ANGELES • 4 PM NEW YORK
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In the 1930s, nearly 3,000 Americans embarked for Europe to join the democratically elected Spanish Republic in its effort to repel a military coup led by Francisco Franco. Franco had the support of Nazi Germany and fascist Italy. Nearly one-third of the Americans who went to Spain to fight fascism were Jews. This program presents their story. (more…)
Abba Kovner, Hero and Witness
11 AM LOS ANGELES • 2 PM NEW YORK
7 PM LISBON • 9 PM JERUSALEM
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Abba Kovner was the leader of the Partisan resistance fighters in Vilna during World War II. He made aliyah in 1947 and became a celebrated Israeli poet. In 1961 he was a star witness during the trial of Adolf Eichmann. He is one of the great Jewish figures of the twentieth century.
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Woman of Valor, Mildred Fish-Harnack
11 AM LOS ANGELES • 2 PM NEW YORK • 8 PM BERLIN
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Mildred Fish-Harnack was the only American citizen executed on the personal orders of Adolf Hitler. Born in Milwaukee, she was a member of the anti-Nazi resistance group in Berlin known as the Red Orchestra. Learn about this brave woman of valor whose story remained hidden for decades and is now coming to light. (more…)
Shalom Uganda
11 AM LOS ANGELES • 2 PM NEW YORK
7 PM LISBON • 9 PM UGANDA
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Learn about a small Ashkenazi Jewish community that settled in the African country of Uganda after World War II. With no rabbi or Jewish infrastructure, this community of twenty-three families formed a cohesive group that celebrated all Jewish festivals together and upheld their Jewish identity. There is also a small but vibrant indigenous Jewish Ugandan community that survived persecution under the regime of Idi Amin and that survives to this day. Meet representatives of both communities.