History Archives - Fritz Ascher Society

Oct 25, 2026

Private Tour by Curator Maria Castro
There Are No Words: Si Lewen’s Parade
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY 10028

Rachel Stern2026-10-25T09:51:35-04:00October 25th, 2026|Events, Lectures|Comments Off on Private Tour by Curator Maria Castro
There Are No Words: Si Lewen’s Parade
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY 10028

Join us for a special early tour of the exhibition with curator Maria Castro, before the museum opens to the public. After the tour, we’ll gather for coffee and tea and continue the conversation. REGISTRATION CLOSES SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2026. The Parade is an epic cycle of 63 charcoal, pencil, and ink drawings conceived by Si Lewen (1918–2016) in the aftermath of World War II. The work unfolds a visual narrative on war, memory, and the human condition that is informed by the artist's extraordinary life. Born in Poland to Jewish parents and raised in Germany, Lewen fled Nazi persecution with his family in 1933 before immigrating to the United States. While serving in the U.S. Army [...]

Oct 22, 2026

Cocktail Reception
benefiting The Fritz Ascher Society
at the home of Gary Zimmerman
Central Park South, New York, NY

Rachel Stern2026-10-22T09:49:26-04:00October 22nd, 2026|Events, Lectures|Comments Off on Cocktail Reception
benefiting The Fritz Ascher Society
at the home of Gary Zimmerman
Central Park South, New York, NY

We cordially invite you to a cocktail reception at the home of Gary Zimmerman on Central Park South in NYC benefiting the Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted, Ostracized and Banned Art. Join us for art, conversation and connection. *All food is certified Kosher Image above: Marc Chagall, Mockup for the backdrop of Stravinsky's Firebird, 1945. Gouache, india ink, pastel, colored pencil, and gold paper collage on paper mounted on japanese paper, 14 13/16 x 24 7/16 in. (37.7 x 62 cm). Collection du Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris © 2026 Marc Chagall / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris BUY TICKETS HERE We look forward to seeing and discussing art, [...]

Oct 21, 2026

Kafka’s last Unknown:
The Story and Character of his Drawings
Presentation by Prof. Dr. Andreas Kilcher, Zurich (Switzerland)

Rachel Stern2026-10-22T00:23:24-04:00October 21st, 2026|Events, Lectures|Comments Off on Kafka’s last Unknown:
The Story and Character of his Drawings
Presentation by Prof. Dr. Andreas Kilcher, Zurich (Switzerland)

Locked away for decades following also a history of persecution, the drawings of the iconic 20th-century writer Franz Kafka remained one of the final unknowns of his work. In 2021, the literary scholar Andreas Kilcher brought them to light. Image above: Franz Kafka, Drawing of a whip-wielding jockey on a horse vaulting over an obstacle. Photograph: Ardon Bar-Hama. Max Brod Archive. The National Library of Israel REGISTER HERE Franz Kafka, Drawing of a male figure, entitled “The Dancer” by Kafka’s executor Max Brod. Photograph: Ardon Bar-Hama. Max Brod Archive. The National Library of Israel Franz Kafka, A Beggar and a Generous Elegant Man, 1906. Photograph: Ardon Bar-Hama. Max Brod [...]

Oct 5, 2026

Armin Stern. Journeys and Escapes
Presentation by Erik Riedel, Frankfurt a.M. (Germany)

Rachel Stern2026-10-29T06:20:03-04:00October 5th, 2026|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Armin Stern. Journeys and Escapes
Presentation by Erik Riedel, Frankfurt a.M. (Germany)

The artist Armin Stern (1883–1944), born near Pressburg (now Bratislava), moved to Frankfurt in 1900 to study painting. Despite numerous travels and periods of study in Paris, Brittany, the Netherlands, and Ticino, Frankfurt remained the center of his life. After being excluded from an exhibition at the Frankfurt Kunstverein in 1933 because he was a "non-Aryan artist," he relocated with his family to Bratislava, which had by then become part of Czechoslovakia. Image above: Armin Stern, Ascona, 1928. Watercolor. Donated by the descendants of Armin Stern. Jewish Museum Frankfurt As the situation there also grew increasingly perilous, Stern initially sought to emigrate to the British Mandate of Palestine. By his own account, the painter had [...]

Oct 5, 2026

Pictures of Resistance:
The Wartime Photography of Jewish Partisan Faye Schulman
Presentation by Sheri Rosenblum, San Francisco (CA)

Rachel Stern2026-10-15T06:34:32-04:00October 5th, 2026|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Pictures of Resistance:
The Wartime Photography of Jewish Partisan Faye Schulman
Presentation by Sheri Rosenblum, San Francisco (CA)

In the forests of Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe, Jewish partisan Faye Schulman carried two extraordinary weapons: a rifle and a camera. After witnessing the murder of her family and the destruction of her community, she joined the partisans, documenting daily life, resistance, and survival. Her photographs—taken while living and fighting with a partisan unit—are the only known images captured from within a partisan camp. Image above: Faye Schulman, Forest near Lenin, Winter 1944. This presentation explores Schulman's remarkable life through her wartime photography, highlighting its historical significance and artistic legacy. Drawing from the Pictures of Resistance exhibition, participants will discover how her images challenge misconceptions about Jewish resistance during the Holocaust while serving as [...]

Sep 1, 2026

Newish and Jewish from Europe:
Refugees, Survivors and the Spread of Modernism
Presentation by Samuel D. Gruber

Rachel Stern2026-09-30T13:51:28-04:00September 1st, 2026|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Newish and Jewish from Europe:
Refugees, Survivors and the Spread of Modernism
Presentation by Samuel D. Gruber

The architecture of the American Jewish community was transformed following World War II by émigré and refugee architects engaged to design synagogues and Jewish Community Centers. Image above: Hamden, CT, Mishkan Israel sanctuary, photo S. Gruber, 2011. Architects: Fritz Nathan and Bertram Bassuk, Ark: Ben Shahn, Stained Glass: Robert Pinart and Jean-Jacques Duval Eric Mendelsohn’s synagogues for St. Louis, Cleveland and elsewhere are well known but the work of Fritz Nathan, Mendelsohn’s German-Jewish contemporary, is virtually forgotten. Erich Mendelsohn, sketch for Congregation Bnai Amoona, St Louis, MO Erich Mendelsohn, Model for Congregation Bnai Amoona, St Louis, MO Nathan arrived in the United [...]

Sep 1, 2026

Reconciling Identities:
Marcel Janco and the Romanian Avant-Garde in the Interwar Years
Presentation by Amelia Miholca
followed by a conversation with Nicola Baird, PhD, London (UK)

Rachel Stern2026-09-16T14:42:28-04:00September 1st, 2026|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Reconciling Identities:
Marcel Janco and the Romanian Avant-Garde in the Interwar Years
Presentation by Amelia Miholca
followed by a conversation with Nicola Baird, PhD, London (UK)

In her presentation, Dr. Miholca will spotlight the artistic and historical significance of Marcel Janco and the Romanian avant-garde group during a period of tremendous creative experimentation and productivity, when artists and writers merged their Jewish identity with the international identity they sought to foster through their network of dadaist and constructivist magazines. Janco, alongside other Romanian-Jewish artists like M. H. Maxy, Victor Brauner, Mattis Teutsch, and Benjamin Fondane, wished to capitalize on the Dada movement initiated by Janco and Tristan Tzara—alongside Hugo Ball, in Zurich, 1916—with their own avant-garde movement in Bucharest that mainly emerged through magazines such as Contimporanul (1922-1932), 75HP (1924) and Integral (1925-1928). The presentation will be followed by a conversation with Nicola Baird, PhD. [...]

Aug 31, 2026

Understanding Past Realities of the Holocaust.
Photography versus Art
With Dr. Christoph Kreutzmüller (Berlin) and Dr. Rachel Perry (Boston)

Rachel Stern2026-10-29T04:26:03-04:00August 31st, 2026|Events, Lectures|Comments Off on Understanding Past Realities of the Holocaust.
Photography versus Art
With Dr. Christoph Kreutzmüller (Berlin) and Dr. Rachel Perry (Boston)

To mark the November Pogrom of 1938 (euphemistically called "Kristallnacht"), a discussion, "Understanding Past Realities of the Holocaust: Photography versus Art" will take place on 4 November 2026. Historians Dr Christoph Kreutzmüller and Dr Rachel Perry examine how photography and art depicted the Nazi state-orchestrated campaign of terror perpetrated against Jewish men, women and children across Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland from 9 to 10 November 1938 (the November Pogrom). The historians ask what photography and art reveal about the lived realities of the victims of the Pogrom, the interactions surrounding the violence and the broader society in which the violence was perpetrated. The event will be live-streamed and recorded. Questions can be submitted through this form. The discussion [...]

Jul 21, 2026

Lost and Sometimes Found:
Suzanne Loebl’s Encounter with Nazi-Plundered Art
and Its Sometime Restitution
Suzanne Loebl in Conversation with Ori Z Soltes

Rachel Stern2026-08-13T06:16:59-04:00July 21st, 2026|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Lost and Sometimes Found:
Suzanne Loebl’s Encounter with Nazi-Plundered Art
and Its Sometime Restitution
Suzanne Loebl in Conversation with Ori Z Soltes

Born in Germany, Suzanne Loebl and her family left for Belgium in 1938, and lucky enough to be hidden there after the Nazis overran the country. She survived to carve out a diverse career as a writer, including books that focus on the visual arts and museums. Her most recent volume, Plunder and Survival, draws from her passion for art and her fascination with the story of both the Nazi obsession and theft of cultural property and the winding trajectory of attempts to restore plundered artworks to the families or institutions from which they were stolen. Image above: Yussuf Abbo, sketch of Gretel Bamberger, Suzanne's mother, n.d. Courtesy Suzanne Loebl . In this zoom program Loebl [...]

Jun 28, 2026

The Extraordinary Life of Edith Tudor Hart –
Émigré, Photographer and Secret Agent
Book talk by Daria Santini, London (United Kingdom)

Rachel Stern2026-07-15T13:51:50-04:00June 28th, 2026|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on The Extraordinary Life of Edith Tudor Hart –
Émigré, Photographer and Secret Agent
Book talk by Daria Santini, London (United Kingdom)

In her talk, Daria Santini presents her new biography of the Austrian-British photographer and Soviet agent Edith Tudor Hart (1908–1973). At the centre of a wide and vibrant circle of predominantly Central European artists, architects, designers, scientists, intellectuals and political activists in 1930s and 1940s London, Tudor Hart combined a successful career as a photographer with a clandestine role as a communist agent. This remarkable dual identity forms the basis of a compelling and dramatic life story. Image above: Edith Tudor Hart, London ca 1935. Born in Vienna into a secular, social-democratic Jewish family deeply rooted in the progressive culture of the city that became known as 'Red Vienna', Edith Tudor [...]

May 24, 2026

Visibility Practices: Women Photographers of the Bauhaus
Presentation by Carla Maria Huttenloher, Berlin (Germany)

Rachel Stern2026-07-22T15:12:44-04:00May 24th, 2026|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Visibility Practices: Women Photographers of the Bauhaus
Presentation by Carla Maria Huttenloher, Berlin (Germany)

In this presentation, Carla Maria Huttenloher brings women’s photographic agency to the forefront of the Bauhaus story, uncovering the rich and long-underexplored links between their lives and their powerful bodies of work. Image above: Grit Kallin-Fischer, Self-portrait with cigarette, around 1928. Courtesy Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin . Women have worked behind the camera since photography’s beginnings, but their contributions have been sidelined in art‑historical narratives. The Bauhaus offers a clear case: during the Weimar Republic women engaged with and shaped photographic modernism in multiple ways, yet their work is insufficiently acknowledged to date. In the 1920s and early 1930s, the social figure of the New Woman — ideologically linked to greater independence, professional [...]

Apr 27, 2026

Stolen Jewish Legacies:
The Fate of Eugen Spiro and His Looted Collection
Presentation by Anne Uhrlandt, Munich (Germany)

Rachel Stern2026-05-21T07:16:30-04:00April 27th, 2026|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Stolen Jewish Legacies:
The Fate of Eugen Spiro and His Looted Collection
Presentation by Anne Uhrlandt, Munich (Germany)

In this online lecture Anne Uhrlandt will present the forgotten story of once prominent German Jewish artist and collector Eugen Spiro (April 18, 1874, Wrocław - September 26, 1972, New York City). During her two-year research project, Uhrlandt reconstructed the artist’s biography and the fate of his looted collection by bringing together evidence and sources from numerous international archives. Two case studies about specific stolen objects highlight the dramatic events following both s the Nazi government ‘s expulsion of Spiro from his profession, robbing him of his sources of income, and the theft of his art collection, which included both his own works of art and works of art by other artists. The case studies demonstrate the potential of [...]

Private Tour by Curator Maria Castro
There Are No Words: Si Lewen’s Parade
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY 10028

Cocktail Reception
benefiting The Fritz Ascher Society
at the home of Gary Zimmerman
Central Park South, New York, NY

Kafka’s last Unknown:
The Story and Character of his Drawings
Presentation by Prof. Dr. Andreas Kilcher, Zurich (Switzerland)

Armin Stern. Journeys and Escapes
Presentation by Erik Riedel, Frankfurt a.M. (Germany)

Pictures of Resistance:
The Wartime Photography of Jewish Partisan Faye Schulman
Presentation by Sheri Rosenblum, San Francisco (CA)

Newish and Jewish from Europe:
Refugees, Survivors and the Spread of Modernism
Presentation by Samuel D. Gruber

Reconciling Identities:
Marcel Janco and the Romanian Avant-Garde in the Interwar Years
Presentation by Amelia Miholca
followed by a conversation with Nicola Baird, PhD, London (UK)

Understanding Past Realities of the Holocaust.
Photography versus Art
With Dr. Christoph Kreutzmüller (Berlin) and Dr. Rachel Perry (Boston)

Lost and Sometimes Found:
Suzanne Loebl’s Encounter with Nazi-Plundered Art
and Its Sometime Restitution
Suzanne Loebl in Conversation with Ori Z Soltes

The Extraordinary Life of Edith Tudor Hart –
Émigré, Photographer and Secret Agent
Book talk by Daria Santini, London (United Kingdom)

Visibility Practices: Women Photographers of the Bauhaus
Presentation by Carla Maria Huttenloher, Berlin (Germany)

Stolen Jewish Legacies:
The Fate of Eugen Spiro and His Looted Collection
Presentation by Anne Uhrlandt, Munich (Germany)

subscribe to newsletter

Privacy & Consent Options

Necessary Cookies

Functional

Analytics

Advertisement

Fritz Ascher Society Cookies Policy