October 19, 2001
Contact: Ann Marie Deer Owens, 615-322-NEWS[email protected]
2001 Holocaust Lecture Series will explore the heroism of "Resistance to the Holocaust"
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- "Resistance to the Holocaust," the heroic efforts of intended victims and would-be onlookers to oppose the Nazis' attempted genocide of the Jews, will be examined through film, song, lecture and discussion during the 2001 Holocaust Lecture Series at Vanderbilt Oct. 25 through Nov. 10.
This year's series, Vanderbilt's 24th annual and the longest running lecture series devoted to the Holocaust at any college or university, will celebrate, in particular, the work of young Jewish partisans. These heroes, despite impossible odds, meager resources and little outside support, resisted the Nazis and rescued their fellow Jews. In addition, the series will explore the efforts of those who, while not targeted for extermination, engaged in rescue and resistance operations, often at risk to their own lives.
Nechama Tec, a distinguished scholar of the Holocaust, will deliver the keynote address Oct. 28 at 8 p.m. in Wilson Hall, Room 103. Her book, Defiance: The Bielski Partisans, shows how they became the largest armed rescue operation of Jews by Jews during World War II. Tec is a senior research fellow at the Miles Lerman Center for the Study of Jewish Resistance of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and scholar-in-residence at the International Institute for Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. Her latest book, The Puzzle of Gender and the Holocaust, will be published in 2002 by Yale University Press.
The film Resistance: Untold Stories of Jewish Partisans will be shown at Sarratt Cinema Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. This new documentary tells the deeply moving story of the dramatic fight for survival by young people in the forests of Eastern Europe. Following the screening, film producer Kenneth Mandel and director Seth Kramer will take part in a discussion with the audience.
Shalom Yoran and Eta Wrobel, whose passionate stories are told in the film Resistance, will provide more details about their experiences Oct. 30 at 8 p.m. in Sarratt Cinema. Yoran, who saw his parents being murdered by the Nazis, escaped in 1942 into the forests and swamplands of Poland. He and his brother formed the core of a band of partisans that waged guerilla warfare against the Germans for the rest of the war. He later helped found New York's Museum of Jewish Heritage. Wrobel, who also fled as a teenager to the Polish forests, fulfilled the dual role of fighter and rescuer when she joined a band of partisans. She is an outspoken advocate against intolerance and hate crimes.
Adrienne Cooper and Lorin Sklamberg, two of the leading vocalists of the New Yiddish Culture and Klezmer Revival Movements, will perform Nov. 1 in Sarratt Cinema. The program, "Songs of Struggle and Resistance: The Resilience of the Jewish Spirit," will be at 7 p.m. Cooper is director of The Center for Cultural Jewish Life of the Workmen's Circle/Arbeter Ring. Her recordings include the Grammy-nominated Partisans of Vilna. Lorin Sklamberg directs the Music Archives of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. He is featured on three dozen recordings, including Live in the Fiddler's House with violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman.
A second film, Weapons of the Spirit, will be shown as part of the lecture series Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. in Sarratt Cinema. The 1989 film tells the true story of a French village that rescued 5,000 Jews. The residents were descendants of Huguenot Protestants who themselves had been severely persecuted hundreds of years ago. Michael Bess, associate professor of history at Vanderbilt, will lead a discussion following the showing.
Peter Hoffmann, author of Stauffenberg. A Family History, 1905-1945 and several other books about German resistance to Hitler, will speak Nov. 8 at 8 p.m. Hoffmann is the William Kingsford Professor of McGill University. His lecture will be in Wilson Hall, Room 103.
The following events are offered in conjunction with the Holocaust Lecture Series: -- "An Evening of Jewish Song" with Blair faculty members Amy Jarman, soprano, and Amy Dorfman, piano, Oct. 25 at 8 p.m. in the Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall; -- Lebensraum, a play that explores the consequences when an imaginary, contrite German chancellor invites six million Jews to Germany and promises them citizenship and jobs. Performances are at Neeley Auditorium Nov. 2, 3, 4, 8, 9 and 10 at 8 p.m. and Nov. 4 at 2 p.m. General admission is $7.-- Secondary school teachers and high school students will examine "Partisan Resistance during the Holocaust" during four sessions Oct. 29. This conference held at Sarratt Student Center is an educational outreach program sponsored by the Tennessee Holocaust Commission.
All events that are part of the Holocaust Lecture Series at Vanderbilt are free and open to the community unless otherwise noted. For more information, call (615) 343-2457 or visit the website at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/holocaust.
For more information about Vanderbilt, please visit the News Service homepage at www.vanderbilt.edu/News.
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