2020-2021 “Children in the Holocaust”
Children in the Holocaust
“Jewish Orphans after the Holocaust”
Tuesday, September 15
7:00pm, Video Conference
Lecture: “Jewish Orphans after the Holocaust” by Debórah Dwork
At the end of World War II, thousands of Jewish children, many in hiding, had miraculously survived the Nazi genocidal onslaught. But, too often, there were no family members alive to take them in. The acclaimed Holocaust historian Debórah Dwork, author of Children with a Star: Jewish Youth in Nazi Europe and many other works, brings us deep into this difficult chapter in her lecture, “Jewish Orphans after the Holocaust.”
Debórah Dwork is Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence at the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, The Graduate Center at the City University of New York, and Founding Director of the Center for Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity at the City University of New York.
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit
Tuesday, October 13 at 7:00pm
Vanderbilt students, faculty, and staff: RSVP and access complimentary tickets through AnchorLink by clicking here
Off-campus friends and patrons: Access the film through the Nashville Jewish Film Festival by clicking here
Film and Discussion: When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit (2019, Switzerland, directed by Caroline Link) with post-film discussion by Ann Neely
This stunning film from the director of the Academy Award-winning Nowhere in Africa has the grand dramatic sweep and ravishing visuals of cinematic epics from an earlier era. Based on the best-selling novel by Judith Kerr, the film begins in 1933, following 9-year-old Anna, who isn’t overly concerned with changes coming to Berlin or the creeping dread of Hitler’s rise to power until her own father goes missing. Moving with her mother and brother to Switzerland, then Paris, then London, Anna experiences family disruption, dislocation, and assimilation into a new life. Caroline Link’s film offers a moving perspective on the experience of German Jews who fled the country before the war.
Ann Neely, Associate Professor of the Practice in Children’s Literature and Literacy, will lead a post-film discussion.
Co-sponsored with the Nashville Jewish Film Festival
“Running and Hiding from the Nazis: My Miraculous Escape from the Holocaust”
Thursday, November 12
7:00pm, Video Conference
Lecture: “Running and Hiding from the Nazis: My Miraculous Escape from the Holocaust” by Miriam Klein Kassenoff
Miriam Klein Kassenoff was born in Košice, present-day Slovakia. Her father was detained in and then escaped from a concentration camp in Nazi-allied Hungary. After his escape Klein Kassenoff and her family—her parents and her baby brother—fled for seven months through seven European countries. In 1941, they reached Lisbon and a ship to the United States.
Miriam Klein Kassenoff is a Holocaust Survivor, Director of the Holocaust Teacher Institute at the University of Miami, Education Specialist for Holocaust Studies at Miami-Dade Public Schools, and co-author of Memories of the Night: A Study of the Holocaust and Studying the Holocaust through Film and Literature.
Co-sponsored with the Tennessee Holocaust Commission
“Childhood Left at the Station: A Tribute to the Children of the Kindertransport”
March through April 2021
Sarratt Gallery, Sarratt Student Center
Exhibition: “Childhood Left at the Station: A Tribute to the Children of the Kindertransport” from the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust
Childhood Left at the Station” highlights ten of the 10,000 children (kinder) who had to leave their families, friends, and homes in search of safety during a time of impending danger. These ten courageous children, ranging in age from five to 17, left their homes in Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Danzig for family, foster homes, and strangers in the UK and Switzerland. The exhibit’s vivid personal narratives weave together a story of tragedy, resilience, and kindness.