Holocaust

Feb 17, 2021

Cartoon Crusader:
Arthur Szyk’s War against Nazism
Steven Luckert, Washington DC

2022-02-18T06:31:18-05:00February 17th, 2021|, , |Comments Off on Cartoon Crusader:
Arthur Szyk’s War against Nazism
Steven Luckert, Washington DC

During the first four decades of the twentieth century, Polish Jewish artist Arthur Szyk (1894–1951) was best known for his richly detailed book illustrations and magnificent illuminations on Jewish themes. He portrayed the Jews as a heroic nation that had resisted oppression through the ages and eventually triumphed. His Jews were fighters for their own freedom and the freedom of others. Szyk sought to redefine how the Jews viewed themselves and how others viewed them. His works thus challenged the notion that Jewish history was merely one long saga of suffering and, at the same time, refuted the then common antisemitic canard that the Jews were a cowardly people. With the coming to power in Germany of Adolf Hitler [...]

Jan 11, 2021

Between Art and Record Keeping –
Artistic Representations of the Holocaust
Ori Z Soltes, Washington DC

2022-02-18T07:19:09-05:00January 11th, 2021|, , |Comments Off on Between Art and Record Keeping –
Artistic Representations of the Holocaust
Ori Z Soltes, Washington DC

WATCH THE RECORDING OF THIS EVENT HERE. Visual art during and after the Holocaust, by victims and survivors eloquently contradicts the famous comment by Theodor Adorno that "after the Holocaust to make art is barbaric." On the contrary, it was and is necessary: as part of the record of events as they were transpiring, and as part of the human response to horror--to express anger, to raise questions, to offer healing--in the time after those events. Who creates the art and what kind of art is created? What role does it play in wrestling with the question of what God is and what we humans are? These issues have implications both from within the heart of the Holocaust and from well beyond its particular boundaries. [...]

Jan 10, 2021

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter January 2021

2021-02-24T05:46:01-05:00January 10th, 2021|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter January 2021

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 [...]

Jan 1, 2021

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY New Year Newsletter

2021-02-24T05:44:07-05:00January 1st, 2021|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY New Year 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 [...]

Dec 31, 2020

Live From
Museum of Jewish Heritage
Carolyn Enger’s
Mischlinge Exposé

2022-02-18T07:23:41-05:00December 31st, 2020|, , |Comments Off on Live From
Museum of Jewish Heritage
Carolyn Enger’s
Mischlinge Exposé

Join the Museum of Jewish Heritage  — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, the German Consulate General in New York, and the Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted, Ostracized, and Banned Art for a stirring performance of Enger’s Mischlinge Exposé, Live from Edmond J. Safra Hall™. The performance will be followed by a discussion between Enger and Rachel Stern, Founding Director and CEO of the Fritz Ascher Society. 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 [...]

Dec 16, 2020

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter Year End 2020

2020-12-16T12:52:26-05:00December 16th, 2020|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter Year End 2020

Dear Friends, I HAVE to let you know before 2020 ends: The book is out! We are very excited about this interdisciplinary volume, which explores the painting of Alice Lok Cahana, a survivor of three Holocaust concentration camps; the poetry of her son, Ronnie Cahana; and the photography and award-winning filmmaking of her granddaughter, Kitra Cahana. It places that layered narrative within the context of art, the biology of memory, and the physiological and psychological question of how both creativity and intense trauma can be transmitted from one generation to the next. The book is generously sponsored by the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany in New [...]

Dec 8, 2020

Helene Klodawsky, Film Director (Canada) and
Sabine Rollberg, Expert of Documentary Film (Germany) discuss
“Undying Love.” Stories of Romance, Marriage and Rebirth in Displaced Persons’ Camps

2022-02-18T05:51:58-05:00December 8th, 2020|, |Comments Off on Helene Klodawsky, Film Director (Canada) and
Sabine Rollberg, Expert of Documentary Film (Germany) discuss
“Undying Love.” Stories of Romance, Marriage and Rebirth in Displaced Persons’ Camps

This exclusive program features two award winners: Helene Klodawsky, Independent Filmmaker, Writer and Director of "Undying Love", Montreal (Canada) in conversation with Sabine Rollberg, Professor of Artistic Television Formats, Film and Television, Freiburg (Germany) Moderated by Rachel Stern, Director of the Fritz Ascher Society, New York (USA) 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 the pre- and post-Holocaust era, Undying Love is a textured retelling of several extraordinary love stories which emerged “out [...]

Nov 23, 2020

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter December 2020

2020-12-01T06:51:39-05:00November 23rd, 2020|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter December 2020

Dear Friends, With Thanksgiving upon us, we announce our last events for 2020:  Kitra Cahana, The Cult of Maria Lionza: Fire, 2009. ©Kitra Cahana "A subject passes through me," explains Kitra Cahana. Here, a man who has taken on an Indian spirit and therefore has the power to touch fire, jumps through a fire pit without even flinching on October 12, 2009 during the Baile en Candela - "The Fire Dance" at the entrance to Sorte mountain in Venezuela. On the eve of the 12th of October every year The Fire Dance takes place on the mountain, wherein Maria Lionza practitioners will dress up as Indians take on [...]

Nov 1, 2020

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter November 2020

2020-11-23T23:33:37-05:00November 1st, 2020|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter November 2020

Dear Friends, First of all, IF YOU ARE AN US CITIZEN, PLEASE VOTE! John Heartfield, Krieg und Leichen – Die letzte Hoffnung der Reichen, Montagefotografie für die Arbeiter-Illustrierten-Zeitung, 1932, Nr. 18, Silbergelatineabzug, kaschiert Akademie der Künste, Berlin,  Inv.Nr. JH 1955 © The Heartfield Community of Heirs / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020 This will be an extremely busy month at FAS, starting on November 4, 2020 at 12:00pm ET with Rosa von der Schulenburg’s lecture “About John Heartfield’s Political Engagement and Private Life in London”, which is part of our monthly zoom series “Fight or Flight. stories of artists under repression,” generously funded by Allianz Partners. (SEE EVENT HERE) John [...]

Oct 28, 2020

Legacy And Creativity:
The Filmmaking and Photography of Kitra Cahana
In Conversation with Ori Z Soltes

2020-11-25T16:10:20-05:00October 28th, 2020|, , |Comments Off on Legacy And Creativity:
The Filmmaking and Photography of Kitra Cahana
In Conversation with Ori Z Soltes

WATCH THE RECORDING OF THIS EVENT HERE. Conversation featuring Kitra Cahana, Documentary Photographer, Videographer and Photo/Video Artist and Ori Z Soltes, Teaching Professor at Georgetown University in Washington DC Introduced by Rachel Stern, Executive Director of The Fritz Ascher Society in New York NY Kitra Cahana's award winning work ranges from photographic studies of American Teens for National Geographic Magazine to documentaries on the annual life-saving dance competition in a small town in northern Canada. She is renowned for work that consistently reflects a deep sense of empathy with her subjects. Her grandmother was a teen-aged Holocaust survivor who became an intense and powerful painter. Her father, a rabbi and a poet, was severely disabled by a stroke at the [...]

Oct 27, 2020

Immortality, Memory, Creativity, and Survival:
The Arts of Alice Lok Cahana,
Ronnie Cahana, and Kitra Cahana
Lecture by Ori Z Soltes, Washington DC

2020-11-18T14:34:57-05:00October 27th, 2020|, , |Comments Off on Immortality, Memory, Creativity, and Survival:
The Arts of Alice Lok Cahana,
Ronnie Cahana, and Kitra Cahana
Lecture by Ori Z Soltes, Washington DC

WATCH THE RECORDING OF THIS EVENT HERE. Lecture featuring Ori Z Soltes, Teaching Professor at Georgetown University in Washington DC Moderated by Rachel Stern, Executive Director of the Fritz Ascher Society in New York This lecture explores several interlocking themes. The work of three artists, each in a different medium—Alice was primarily a painter, Ronnie is a poet, and Kitra is a well-recognized photographer and filmmaker—will be presented and explored with regard to both aesthetic and conceptual intentions and outcomes. Since these three artists represent three generations from within one family, the question of how that familial relationship does or does not impinge on the artistic output will be explored. Inevitably, the fact that the first of the three was a [...]

Oct 18, 2020

“Trauma, Memory and Art”
An interdisciplinary virtual conference
with Ori Z. Soltes, Larry R. Squire,
Natan P.F. Kellermann and Eva Fogelman

2020-11-12T11:42:45-05:00October 18th, 2020|, , |Comments Off on “Trauma, Memory and Art”
An interdisciplinary virtual conference
with Ori Z. Soltes, Larry R. Squire,
Natan P.F. Kellermann and Eva Fogelman

WATCH THE RECORDING OF THIS EVENT HERE. In this interdisciplinary conference, four experts discuss the transmission of Holocaust trauma and memory against the backdrop of art. The starting point of the discussion is the art of Holocaust survivor Alice Lok Cahana and how artistic sensibilities, traumatic memory—and a sense of obligation to improve the world—have been expressed through three generations of her family—both in who her children and grandchildren are and in how they express themselves artistically. The discussion will amplify this layered issue from other angles: what have recent biological and psychological investigations offered, regarding what memory is and how it works, if and how trauma can be carried in the DNA—and the implications of all of this for [...]