WWII Archives - Fritz Ascher Society

Apr 16, 2026

THE RESTLESS HUNGARIAN
Film Screening and Conversation with Director Tom Weidlinger

Rachel Stern2026-04-16T08:09:37-04:00April 16th, 2026|Events, Lectures|Comments Off on THE RESTLESS HUNGARIAN
Film Screening and Conversation with Director Tom Weidlinger

The Restless Hungarian (2021) is a personal narrative set against the backdrop of the Hungarian Jewish diaspora, the rise of Modernism, and the Cold War. The film centers on Paul Weidlinger, one of the most important structural engineers of the twentieth century who created the strength behind iconic skyscrapers, churches, museums, embassies, and monumental sculptures by Picasso, Noguchi, and Dubuffet. Early in his career, he broke from mainstream modernism with his concept of the “Joy of Space”. Behind his professional success, however, was a deeply troubled private life marked by loss, denial, and family tragedy. As the filmmaker—his son—begins to explore Paul’s past, the story shifts into a deeply personal journey across continents, uncovering hidden Jewish roots and the family’s [...]

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 26, 2026

Jacob Pins (1917-2005): The Art of Laughter and Tears
Presentation by Ori Z. Soltes, Washington (DC)

Rachel Stern2026-02-11T15:54:02-05:00January 26th, 2026|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Jacob Pins (1917-2005): The Art of Laughter and Tears
Presentation by Ori Z. Soltes, Washington (DC)

In this image-rich talk, Ori Z. Soltes explores the pioneering Israeli printmaker Jacob Pins (1917-2005) and the unique place that he holds in the history of Israeli and modern Jewish art. Born into a Jewish family in Höxter, Germany, he immigrated to Palestine in 1936. He studied under German émigré Jacob Steinhardt (1941-45) and became a noted exponent of the woodcut as well as a noted collector. From 1956 to 1977, Pins also taught at Israel's leading art schools, most notably Bezalel School of Arts and Design in Jerusalem. Image above: Jacob Pins, Dance of Death, 1957. Color woodcut, 995 x 597 mm. Forum Jacob Pins, Höxter. Jacob Pins (January 1917 – [...]

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 [...]

Dec 16, 2025

Filmmaker Stefan Roloff discusses THE RED ORCHESTRA
A documentary film about the Anti-Nazi Group in Berlin, 1933-1942

Rachel Stern2026-01-29T16:01:20-05:00December 16th, 2025|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Filmmaker Stefan Roloff discusses THE RED ORCHESTRA
A documentary film about the Anti-Nazi Group in Berlin, 1933-1942

Join film director Stefan Roloff in conversation with Rachel Stern about the The Red Orchestra, a Berlin-based resistance group that fought against the Nazis from 1933 to 1942. A special focus will be artist Rainer Küchenmeister (1926-2010), who became a painter while incarcerated at the age of sixteen, inspired by a fellow female inmate and resister who was later beheaded. After the war his work was shown at documenta among other venues. WATCH THE TRAILER: The Red Orchestra (2003) is a documentary by Stefan Roloff about a Berlin-based anti-Nazi resistance group that operated during WWII, using interviews with survivors and their children, and pioneering animation to tell their story. [...]

Dec 16, 2025

Under Il Duce’s Shadow:
Italian Art and Artists During the Fascist Regime
Presentation by Nicola Lucchi, PhD, New York (NY)

Rachel Stern2026-01-14T16:27:59-05:00December 16th, 2025|Events, Lectures, Past Events|Comments Off on Under Il Duce’s Shadow:
Italian Art and Artists During the Fascist Regime
Presentation by Nicola Lucchi, PhD, New York (NY)

Italian artistic life under Mussolini was defined less by rigid prescriptions than by a continuous negotiation between competing aesthetic and political demands. Italy, the birthplace of Futurism, had long experimented with modernist innovation, and elements of that movement’s rhetoric and visual language found sympathetic audiences within the fascist state. At the same time, powerful factions within the regime promoted a return to classicism, academicism, and the revival of Italy’s artistic past. The government’s cultural policy therefore oscillated between these poles, attempting to reconcile—and ultimately absorb—contradictory artistic currents into the fascist body politic. Image above: Xanti Schawinsky, Sì , 1934. Artists responded in very different ways: some worked with the regime [...]

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 [...]