Rachel Stern2024-10-28T09:11:01-04:00October 28th, 2024|Events, Lectures|
Der Maler, Grafiker und Dichter Fritz Ascher (1893-1970) wurde bereits als 16-Jähriger von Max Liebermann an die Akademie in Königsberg empfohlen. Ab 1913 gehörte er zu den gefragten Malern in Berlin. Er war ein genauer Beobachter seiner Zeit; die Urkatastrophe des Ersten Weltkriegs und die revolutionären Unruhen in Berlin führten ihn zu christlichen und mystischen Themen, die er radikal neu interpretierte. Nach 1933 erhielt Ascher als Jude Berufsverbot. Während der Pogrome am 9./10. November 1938 wurde er verhaftet und im Konzentrationslager Sachsenhausen und im Potsdamer Gestapo-Gefängnis interniert. Die Schoa überlebte er ab 1942 versteckt in einem Keller in Berlin-Grunewald. Während dieser einsamen Jahre verfasste er Gedichte. Als Künstler fand Ascher nach 1945 seinen ganz eigenen Stil. Angeregt vom nahe [...]
Rachel Stern2024-11-07T09:34:17-05:00October 22nd, 2024|Events, Lectures|
Der spätexpressionistische Künstler Fritz Ascher (1893-1970) überlebte zwei Weltkriege und die Verfolgung durch das nationalsozialistische Regime. Als aufmerksamer Beobachter der Schrecken des Ersten Weltkriegs und der revolutionären Unruhen wandte er sich christlich-spirituellen Themen zu, die er radikal neu interpretierte. In intimen Zeichnungen beschäftigte er sich ab 1916 mit dem Thema Liebe und Verrat, sowohl in seiner Auseinandersetzung mit dem Kreuzigungsthema als auch mit der Figur des Bajazzo in der tragikomischen Oper „I Pagliacci“. Kurzvortrag und Führung von Rachel Stern zeigen den Künstler in seinem sozialen und politischen Umfeld. Image above: Fritz Ascher, Im Wald, um 1919. Weisse Gouache und schwarze Tusche über Aquarell und Bleistift auf Papier, 34 x 32,2 cm © Bianca Stock The late expressionist [...]
Rachel Stern2021-11-28T14:47:24-05:00October 12th, 2021|Newsletter|
Dear Friends, During the first half of the 20th century, the numbers of people migrating were second only to today. What do we know about their experiences? How do artists, with their particular set of sensibilities respond to their own migration? Today, we are proud to announce the virtual project “Identity, Art and Migration” which investigates US immigration of European refugees during the first half of the 20th century through the lens of seven artist case studies: Anni Albers, Friedel Dzubas, Eva Hesse, Rudi Lesser, Lily Renée, Arthur Szyk and Fritz Ascher. In the upcoming weeks, we discuss the seven artists featured in this project, and introduce and discuss interdisciplinary scholarship about “Identity” and “Migration” in two [...]
Rachel Stern2021-09-14T14:51:17-04:00August 26th, 2021|Newsletter|
Dear Friends, As the Jewish year comes to a close, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your interest in our work, and for your support. We are grateful to each one of you for being part of our community. So now we need your help. Please support our work with a donation. For specific sponsorship opportunities please contact me directly at stern@fritzaschersociety.org. DONATE HERE With your donation, you will make sure that artists, whose voice Hitler tried to erase, are acknowledged and remembered. Their artwork is thought about and discussed in its historical context. You’ll help educate about the Holocaust, raise the sensitivity towards contemporary challenges and empower [...]
Rachel Stern2021-09-14T07:20:52-04:00July 6th, 2021|Newsletter|
Dear Friends, We invite you to join us TOMORROW: Wednesday, July 7 at 12:00pm EST “Becoming Gustav Metzger: Uncovering the Early Years (1945-1959)” Featuring Nicola Baird Curator at Ben Uri Gallery and Museum, London (UK) Moderator Rachel Stern Director and CEO, The Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted, Ostracized and Banned Art ZOOM REGISTRATION Gustav Metzger, Antwerp Model, 1949; Oil on canvas. Courtesy of The Gustav Metzger Foundation, image copyright Justin Piperger. Born in Germany to Polish-Jewish orthodox parents in 1926, Gustav Metzger (1926-2017) was one of 10,000 Jewish children evacuated in 1939 to London as part of the Kindertransport. His parents, eldest brother, and maternal grandparents, all perished in [...]
Rachel Stern2021-09-14T06:47:39-04:00May 21st, 2021|Newsletter|
Dear Friends, We invite you to join us for a POST SCREENING DISCUSSION Wednesday, May 26 at 12:00pm EST “Undying Love. Stories of Romance, Marriage and Rebirth in Displaced Persons’ Camps” Featuring Helene Klodawsky, Film Director (Canada) and Sabine Rollberg, Expert of Documentary Film (Germany) Moderator Rachel Stern ZOOM REGISTRATION IMAGE: Detail of “Undying Love” Film Poster, 2002 “Undying Love” tells the poignant, enduring, and miraculous love stories of the survivors of World War II. Against the brutalized landscape of post-war Europe, this film focuses on how survivors struggled to reconstruct personal identities and forge intimate relationships. Using searing testimonies, poetic dramatizations, archives and images of romantic love from [...]
Rachel Stern2021-04-25T07:16:48-04:00April 25th, 2021|Newsletter|
Dear Friends, Spring, finally! And vaccinations, finally! And yes: we are starting to prepare in-person events and exhibitions! For now, we are all about virtual events, though: The life experience and art of Hungarian born Holocaust survivor Alice Lok Cahana and Indian born Siona Benjamin could not be more different. Join us on Wednesday, April 28 at 5:00 pm EST for “Worlds Apart: Antithetical Jewish Experiences in the Twentieth Century,” when Dr. Meital Orr discusses two recent book publications with author and FAS board member Dr. Ori Z Soltes. Organized by the Center for Jewish Civilization at Georgetown University, the event features our book “Immortality, Memory, Creativity, and Survival: The Arts of Alice Lok Cahana, Ronnie [...]
Rachel Stern2021-03-31T18:24:40-04:00March 31st, 2021|Newsletter|
Dear Friends, What a surprise: The Arolsen Archives own a copy of a name list of Jews released from the concentration camp Sachsenhausen on December 23, 1938 with Fritz Ascher's name! Copy of Doc. No. 4094051#1 in conformity with Arolsen Archives Name List of Jews Released from the Concentration Camp Sachsenhausen on December 23, 1938 I am overwhelmed by your interest in our crowdsourcing initiative “everynamecounts,” in which we are partnering with the Arolsen Archives to help build the largest digital memorial to the victims of Nazism. On our designated project page, you can watch the recording of our Zoom event with Floriane Azoulay (Director) and Giora Zwilling (Deputy Head [...]
Rachel Stern2021-03-07T19:20:48-05:00March 7th, 2021|Newsletter|
Dear Friends, We now are embarking on an exciting new project, which is only successful with everyone’s help: starting Wednesday, March 10 we are partnering with the Arolsen Archives to help build the largest digital memorial to the victims of Nazism. And we actually are the first US organization to partner to do so. We invite you to join us on Wednesday, March 10 at 12:00pm ET for the Zoom event “Building the Largest Digital Memorial to the Victims of Nazism: The Arolsen Archives” to hear Floriane Azoulay (Director) and Giora Zwilling (Deputy Head of Archives) from the Arolsen Archives speak about the importance of the documents at Arolsen Archives for Holocaust research, and the role [...]
Rachel Stern2021-02-25T20:35:24-05:00February 25th, 2021|Newsletter|
Dear Friends, Did you ever wonder who created the large Menorah that is standing in front of the Knesset in Jerusalem? We’ll bring the story to your screen, on Wednesday, March 3, 2021, at 12:00pm US ET! Christian Walda (Dortmund, Germany) will speak about “Becoming Jewish: The Sculptor Benno Elkan (1877-1960),” followed by focused presentations by Wolfgang E. Weick (Dortmund) and Ori Z. Soltes (Washington DC). Please register for this Zoom event HERE. Benno Elkan, Menorah, 1956. Knesset, Jerusalem The oeuvre of the German born sculptor was largely made up of commissions. In the beginning, he mainly created tombs. Medals, portrait busts of well-known personalities, monuments to victims and [...]
Rachel Stern2021-02-24T05:46:01-05:00January 10th, 2021|Newsletter|
Dear Friends, Please join us, the Museum of Jewish Heritage and the German Consulate General in New York TOMORROW, January 19 at 2:00pm ET for a stirring performance of Carolyn Enger’s Mischlinge Exposé, which will be live streamed from Edmond J. Safra Hall. The performance will be followed by a discussion. Registration link for the livestream HERE. Carolyn Enger is a pianist based in the greater New York City area, with roots reaching back to Breslau, now Wroclaw, Poland. Her “Mischlinge Exposé” brings to light the stories of Mischlinge—a derogatory term used by the Nazis to describe people with both Jewish and Aryan ancestry—like her father and godmother, interwoven [...]
Rachel Stern2021-02-24T05:44:07-05:00January 1st, 2021|Newsletter|
Dear Friends, Thank You For Your Support! When our exhibitions were prematurely closed, we created virtual spaces to get together for lectures and discussions, digital projects and conferences. Thanks to your support, our community grew globally. But this past year has been financially hard for us. If you can, please consider a tax deductible DONATION (https://fritzaschersociety.org/donate/) to the Fritz Ascher Society. The mailing of our new book publication has started. If you are interested in details about ordering a copy, please email fritzaschersociety@gmail.com. (Sorry, US and Canada only) We are very excited about this interdisciplinary volume, which explores the painting of Alice Lok Cahana, a survivor of three [...]
