Jewish Archives - Fritz Ascher Society

Apr 22, 2026

Early Drawings and Cartoons by Jewish Immigrant Artists, ca. 1900-1920
Presentation by Matthew Baigell, Rutgers University Professor Emeritus

Rachel Stern2026-04-22T09:06:28-04:00April 22nd, 2026|Events, Lectures|Comments Off on Early Drawings and Cartoons by Jewish Immigrant Artists, ca. 1900-1920
Presentation by Matthew Baigell, Rutgers University Professor Emeritus

In this talk, Rutgers University professor emeritus Matthew Baigell discusses early Jewish immigrant artists and cartoonists. As millions of Jews immigrated to the United States from Eastern Europe starting in the 1870s, they brought with them not only their religious heritage but also a definitive idea of the place and value of art and aesthetics in society. Around 1900 they established a Jewish art stream separate from mainstream American art that continues to the present day. To a greater or lesser degree over the decades, artists have continually emphasized community values, politics, and religious heritage. Image above: Shelter Us Under the Shadow of Thy Wings, Hebrew Publishing 1909 REGISTER HERE Frederick Opper & Joseph Keppler (O&K), The [...]

Mar 9, 2026

Jewish Emigré Artists, from Albers to Hesse
Presentations by Ori Z. Soltes
Online Roundtable by the 92nd Street Y in three parts

Rachel Stern2026-03-09T14:05:31-04:00March 9th, 2026|Events, Lectures|Comments Off on Jewish Emigré Artists, from Albers to Hesse
Presentations by Ori Z. Soltes
Online Roundtable by the 92nd Street Y in three parts

This class with acclaimed professor Ori Z. Soltes will consider the lives of eight major Jewish artists of the 20th century, and will discuss their experiences migrating under duress just before, during, or after the Holocaust. From Fritz Ascher to Anni Albers to Eva Hesse, we’ll learn about how these great artists fled, adapted, and survived through the 20th century and went on to create powerful works of art that we still recognize today. REGISTER HERE Session 1: March 13 Immigration and Art from One Generation to Another We'll begin with brief discussions of Ben Shahn and Raphael Soyer, then focus primarily on Fritz Ascher and Rudi Lesser, before concluding with Michael Iofin and David Stern. [...]

Mar 1, 2026

For the Love of Labor.
The Life of Pauline Newman
Book talk by Cathryn J. Prince

Rachel Stern2026-04-15T13:27:08-04:00March 1st, 2026|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on For the Love of Labor.
The Life of Pauline Newman
Book talk by Cathryn J. Prince

In this book talk, author Cathryn J. Prince follows Pauline Newman’s life from a youth split between Lithuania and New York City sweatshops to her work as an advisor to New Deal–era labor secretary Frances Perkins. From her start as one of the youngest activists in US history, Pauline Newman helped shape the International Ladies' Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) into a dominant force in industrial America. Cathryn J. Prince tells the story of a self-educated Jewish immigrant who dedicated herself to a legion of causes and lifelong battles against sexism and classism. Newman’s long hours at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory informed her entrée into labor activism. In the following years, she tirelessly advocated for workers, [...]

Feb 13, 2026

Who Will Draw Our History?
Women’s Graphic Narratives of the Holocaust, 1944-1949
Presentation by Rachel Perry, PhD

Rachel Stern2026-03-05T07:21:05-05:00February 13th, 2026|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Who Will Draw Our History?
Women’s Graphic Narratives of the Holocaust, 1944-1949
Presentation by Rachel Perry, PhD

In this talk, art historian and curator Rachel Perry discusses ten graphic narratives of their experiences of Nazi persecution created by women immediately after liberation. Lacking photographs of what they witnessed and endured, these "first responders" used visual storytelling to counter perpetrator and liberator sources and represent maternal loss, sexual violence, forced labor, and bodily trauma—experiences rarely recorded in canonical Holocaust testimony. Drawing on archives across Europe, Israel, and the United States, this talk recovers marginalized stories that predate Art Spiegelman's Maus by decades. Featured Artists: Lea Grundig (1906-1977), Luba Krugman Gurdus (1914-2011), Mária Turán Hacker (1886-1967), Edit Bán Kiss (1905-1966), Regina Lichter-Liron (1920-1995), Ella Liebermann-Shiber (1927-1998), Ágnes Lukács (1920-2016), Zsuza Merényi (1925-1990), [...]

Feb 3, 2026

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter FEBRUARY 2026

Rachel Stern2026-02-04T06:26:33-05:00February 3rd, 2026|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter FEBRUARY 2026

Dear Friends, As the snow doesn't seem to melt here in New York, we slowly move towards the Jewish holiday of Purim. So in our next talk, we will focus on the German-born Israeli artist Jacob Pins who depicted clowns repeatedly. We will explore how he portrayed the clown, a figure between tragedy and comedy, between self-identification and stage, within his larger oeuvre, within the Israeli society and beyond: Wednesday, February 11, 12:00pm ET online Jacob Pins (1917-2005): The Art of Laughter and Tears Presentation by Ori Z Soltes, PhD Georgetown University, Washington (DC) REGISTER HERE Jacob Pins, Dance of Death, 1957. Color woodcut, 995 x 597 mm. Forum Jacob Pins, [...]

Jan 18, 2026

Costume as Character:
Celebrating the Legacy of Ruth Morley
Center for Jewish History
15 West 16th Street, New York, NY

Rachel Stern2026-03-20T16:22:11-04:00January 18th, 2026|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Costume as Character:
Celebrating the Legacy of Ruth Morley
Center for Jewish History
15 West 16th Street, New York, NY

Costume designer Ruth Morley was behind the iconic looks of several characters now considered legendary in cinema history. A Kindertransport child refugee from Vienna, in the 1950s she studied under German-American painter Hans Hofmann and went on to design costumes for opera and ballet before moving into theater, film and television. Her work can be seen in such iconic films as The Hustler (1961), The Miracle Worker (1962, Academy Award nomination), Taxi Driver (1976), Annie Hall (1977), Kramer vs Kramer (1979), One from the Heart (1981), The Chosen (1981), Tootsie (1982, BAFTA nomination) and Ghost (1990). In the 1980’s she began teaching and mentoring costume design graduate students at Brandeis and NYU. Join panelists Deborah Nadoolman Landis (Costume Designer and Distinguished Professor at UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television, Founding [...]

Jan 9, 2026

The Third Generation.
‘So are these the footsteps of my grandmother or my own?’
Presentation by Sabine Apostolo, Vienna (Austria)

Rachel Stern2026-03-27T07:03:29-04:00January 9th, 2026|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on The Third Generation.
‘So are these the footsteps of my grandmother or my own?’
Presentation by Sabine Apostolo, Vienna (Austria)

Curator Sabine Apostolo gives a virtual tour through the internationally traveling exhibition “The Third Generation. The Holocaust in Family Memory”, which was developed by the Jewish Museum Vienna. Image above: Die Dritte Generation Titel, Zitat: Cécile Wajsbrot, Mémorial, Göttingen 2023, 87 © JMW / Drahtzieher Design & Kommunikation Eighty years after the Holocaust, the last eyewitnesses are dying. Their stories, but also their trauma, have been passed on to their children and grandchildren. While the Second Generation grew up as direct observers of their parents’ psychological and physical damage, the Third Generation can look with greater distance at the family histories, in which memories and silence, family myths and secrets, and overwhelming or missing family [...]

Dec 21, 2025

Making and Unmaking Literature in the Warsaw, Lodz, and Vilna Ghettos
Book talk by Sven-Erik Rose, Davis, CA

Rachel Stern2026-02-25T18:19:41-05:00December 21st, 2025|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Making and Unmaking Literature in the Warsaw, Lodz, and Vilna Ghettos
Book talk by Sven-Erik Rose, Davis, CA

In this book talk, author Sven-Erik Rose speaks about his study of literature written by Jewish authors while interned in Nazi ghettos. His book attends to how authors processed their horrific experiences through poetry and prose. This is the first study devoted to how little known but essential authors grappled with the destitution of ghetto existence by writing within, at the limits of, and against an array of literary scenarios, tropes, plot lines, and generic conventions, including those of nature lyric, modernist interior monologue, the realist social novel, the detective story, and the Gothic horror tale. Contending with starvation, disease, desperate housing conditions and the looming threat of being murdered, inhabitants [...]

Nov 25, 2025

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter DECEMBER 2025

Rachel Stern2025-11-28T14:22:03-05:00November 25th, 2025|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter DECEMBER 2025

Dear Friends, It is almost Thanksgiving here in the US. And I thank you for being part of our community. Your interest and engagement, your questions and comments, your ideas and support have helped shape who we are today. And it's been a productive year - not over yet! - with wonderful long-term and new partners. I'll address the exhibitions and other projects another time. In 20 virtual and in-person events we have discovered and discussed incredible art - some created in harrowing circumstances. We have commemorated and celebrated the art and their creators, who can inspire us all. The decisions they were confronted with and their life stories are as relevant as ever. Thank you to the [...]

Oct 28, 2025

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter NOVEMBER 2025

Rachel Stern2026-01-05T06:30:29-05:00October 28th, 2025|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter NOVEMBER 2025

Dear Friends, It is getting chillier outside! Perfect to visit an exhibition or sit down at your computer with a hot cup of coffee or tea, or lunch, and listen to one of our virtual events: This month, we celebrate two Austrian-born artists: costume designer Ruth Morleyon her 100th birthday (November 19 virtual event), and ceramist Vally Wieselthier, whose work is on view at the Austrian Cultural Forum New York (featured exhibition). We commemorate the so-called Kristallnacht (The night of broken glass) - the coordinated series of violent anti-Jewish pogroms that took place throughout Nazi Germany, Austria, and the Sudetenland on November 9–10, 1938. As fewer and fewer Holocaust survivors live among us, we continue to focus on [...]

Sep 29, 2025

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter OCTOBER 2025

Rachel Stern2026-01-04T06:01:04-05:00September 29th, 2025|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter OCTOBER 2025

Dear Friends, September isn't over yet, and our programming isn't either, with the virtual event about the architect of the Knesset, Ossip Klarwein, re-scheduled to happen tomorrow. For the Jews among us, the High Holy Days will dominate this month, a time to pause, to look inward, and to recommit ourselves to the values of compassion, justice, and peace. At the Fritz Ascher Society, we continue to feature untold stories of artists marginalized and persecuted by the German Nazi regime, and inspire conversations and discussions of high relevance today. To watch the stories told in past events, you can visit our YouTube channel @fritzaschersociety, or our online exhibition IDENTITY, ART AND MIGRATION, which now includes the artist Samson [...]

Sep 2, 2025

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter SEPTEMBER 2025

Rachel Stern2025-12-29T06:24:44-05:00September 2nd, 2025|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter SEPTEMBER 2025

Dear Friends, Happy September! This month, we continue our exploration of the work and life of the German-born artist Samson Schames (1898-1967), who we first discussed on August 27th - you can find the link to the recording below. On September 17th, our virtual event will focus on friends and family. By then, the exhibition at the Leo Baeck Institute in New York will have opened, and the publication date of the addition of Samson Schames to our online exhibition "Identity, Art and Migration" will be announced. But first, we'll start with the Hungarian-born artist Theodore Fried: WEDNESDAY, September 3, 12:00PM EDT online Theodore Fried (1902-1980): In Hiding and Beyond Presentation by Sofia [...]