Events

1 PM LOS ANGELES • 4 PM NEW YORK

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The Ritchie Boys is a term used for American soldiers who trained at Camp Ritchie during World War II. At Camp Ritchie, military instructors taught intelligence gathering and analysis to approximately 20,000 soldiers. Several thousand of these soldiers were Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany who had immigrated to the United States and were then put in the position of interrogating Nazis captured by the Allies. This fascinating film-and-discussion program tells their story.

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11 AM LOS ANGELES • 2 PM NEW YORK

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Not to be missed! The photographer Roman Vishniac captured iconic images of Jewish life, from the cafes of pre-war Berlin to the shtetls of Eastern Europe. His book A Vanished World, produced in collaboration with Elie Wiesel, is widely known. This film-and-discussion program presents the story of the fascinating man behind the photographs.

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11 AM LOS ANGELES • 2 PM NEW YORK

The documentary film Anna and the Egyptian Doctor tells the extraordinary story of Dr. Mohamed Helmy, who rescued a Jewish teenager in Berlin by disguising her as his Muslim assistant. He is the first and only Arab to be recognized as Righteous Among the Nations, but his family refused to accept the award for decades out of fear of reprisal. Helmy’s nephew, Dr. Nasser Kotby, who finally accepted the award over his family’s objections, is the first Arab Muslim to commemorate the Holocaust on film. Anna and the Egyptian Doctor presents a story that transcends the boundaries of time, religion, and politics.

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11 AM LOS ANGELES • 2 PM NEW YORK

Paula Apsell‘s stunning new documentary film, Resistance – They Fought Back, will be the basis of this film-and-discussion program. This groundbreaking film uncovers a deeper and fuller story than has yet been told, using cutting edge techniques of documentation, including forensic archeological investigation. Meet the filmmaker and two of the people interviewed in the film, Dr. Steven Meed and Prof. Yoel Yaari, whose mothers were the real-life heroes Vladka Meed and Bela Hazan. Dr. Jud Newborn, a leading world authority on Jewish resistance during the Holocaust, will moderate.

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11 AM LOS ANGELES • 2 PM NEW YORK

The Aristides de Sousa Mendes Museum is open! Please join us for this behind-the-scenes look at the exciting new museum in Portugal devoted to the Holocaust rescuer Aristides de Sousa Mendes. This program comes with the rare opportunity to view the film Disobedience: The Sousa Mendes Story free of charge!

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1 PM LOS ANGELES • 4 PM NEW YORK

Max’s War tells the story of one man’s decision to fight back against Hitler. As the Nazis conquer Europe, Jewish teen Max Steiner and his parents flee German persecution to Holland, where Max finds true friends and a life-altering romance. But when Hitler invades in 1940, Max escapes to Chicago, leaving his parents and friends behind. When he learns of his parents’ murder, Max immediately enlists in the US Army. 

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1 PM LOS ANGELES • 4 PM NEW YORK

Into the darkness of the Holocaust it is important to add true tales that are life affirming. My Knees Were Jumping; Remembering the Kindertransports was screened at the Sundance Film Festival and was short-listed for an Academy Award nomination. This film, by Melissa Hacker, focuses on the psychology of the child survivors and the transmission of memory from one generation to the next. The filmmaker’s mother, the Academy Award nominated costume designer Ruth Morley (Taxi Driver, Annie Hall, The Hustler, The Miracle Worker, Tootsie, and many more classic American movies) fled Vienna on a Kindertransport in January of 1939. She is a strong presence in the film talking about her experiences alongside other former child refugees.

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11 AM LOS ANGELES • 2 PM NEW YORK

This film-and-discussion program tells the story of the cultural resistance group in Vilna known as “The Paper Brigade.” Led by the famed Yiddish poet Avrom Sutzkever, they risked their lives to rescue the cultural and literary heritage of the Jewish community in the “Jerusalem of Lithuania.”

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1 PM LOS ANGELES • 4 PM NEW YORK

Jan and Antonina Zabinski were the managers of the Warsaw Zoo.  There, thanks to their efforts, 300 Jewish men, women, and children were hidden in animal cages and in their home from 1939 to 1945. This remarkable couple was named Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem. On the panel will be Diane Ackerman, author of the bestselling book The Zookeeper’s Wife, filmmaker Slawomir Grunberg and Stefania Sitbon, a living witness to this story.

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1 PM LOS ANGELES • 4 PM NEW YORK

This program examines the actions of the royal families of Europe during the Holocaust. The film Royals at War is in two episodes, both of which will be available to all who register.

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