“All my writing was born out of anger. In order to contain it, I had to write. If I had not written, I would have exploded.” – Elie Wiesel
via The Paris Review (on Twitter)
Tag Archive for ‘Holocaust’ 
Filmmaker Pierre Sauvage in NYC
On Sunday, I had the opportunity to attend an extraordinary “double-feature” at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. Here’s how the two films–both from acclaimed filmmaker Pierre Sauvage–were billed:
And Crown Thy Good: Varian Fry in Marseille (USA, forthcoming in 2011, digital video)Sauvage presents a preview of his documentary about the most successful private American rescue effort during the Nazi era. The mission led by a New York intellectual Varian Fry helped some 2,000 people escape from France, including many scholars and artists.
Not Idly By: Peter Bergson, America and the Holocaust (USA, 2009, digital video, 40 minutes)
Post-screening discussion with Pierre Sauvage interviewed by author and Vanity Fair writer-at-large Marie Brenner.
This film presents the challenging testimony of a militant Palestinian Jew who spent the war years in the U.S. leading a group that struggled to make saving the Jews of Europe an American objective. The controversial Peter Bergson is given his posthumous say as he castigates American Jewish leaders at the time for failing to pressure the American government to save European Jews.
I’ve been a fan of Pierre Sauvage’s work since I saw Weapons of the Spirit at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts 20 years ago. (A paper I wrote about that film and Louis Malle’s Au revoir les enfants helped convince an esteemed professor to take me on as an undergraduate thesis advisee; I am proud to still count that professor as one of my dearest friends.) And having the chance to see Marie Brenner interview him was an additional lure (and kept me going to the Museum of Jewish Heritage even when the NYC subway system seemed determined to stop me).
The Varian Fry film is not yet complete. Fry’s story, with which I became familiar in my doctoral research on Franco-American relations during the WWII era, is one that should certainly be better known. The excerpt we saw on Sunday was great; I look forward to seeing the completed film.
The Peter Bergson film is, in Brenner’s words, “shocking.” Yes, it can be difficult (and unfair) to judge others’ actions when separated by decades. And, as with so much else related to the war years, one is ill-advised to make categorical statements. But after seeing this film, it’s hard not to think that American Jews–particularly American Jews in high places–could have done more to save their coreligionists in Europe. Peter Bergson’s story is deeply disturbing. Screenings will continue this spring at various film festivals (Los Angeles, Toronto, Warsaw, Zagreb are currently listed). Try to see it.
Anita Diamant and Elinor Lipman to Discuss Diamant’s Day After Night
Recently received via e-mail from JBooks.com:
Dear Readers,Bestselling author Anita Diamant recently published a novel called Day After Night. Bestselling novelist Elinor Lipman read it, loved it, and promptly emailed Diamant to express her enthusiasm. Now JBooks.com and Peet’s Coffee & Tea have arranged for the two writers to continue the conversation, in person, at the Peet’s store in Newton Centre, Mass., on April 8. The conversation will last from 7-8 p.m. You’re invited to eavesdrop as these two talented writers talk shop—with no critics or editors or academics to get in the way. Seating is extremely limited, so click here, right now, to register.
Address: 776 Beacon Street
Store phone number: 617.244.1577Happy reading,
Ken Gordon, Editor, JBooks.com
I recently read Day After Night, myself, and would love to attend this event…if I still lived in the Boston area.
JBC Announces Next Selection for Twitter Book Club
I wish I’d been able to post a bit more this past week, but I’ve been battling what appears to be the flu. One online discovery does have me feeling better: The Jewish Book Council has announced the next title for its Twitter Book Club.
The chosen book is Chris Bohjalian’s Skeletons at the Feast: A Novel. The Twitter discussion is slated for Thursday, February 25, 2010, starting at 12:30 p.m. EST. The author will be participating.
For more information about the book and the event, please visit the Jewish Book Council .
Susan Suleiman to Speak on "Irene Nemirovsky and the ‘Jewish Question’ in Interwar France"
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum has announced that the 2010 J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Annual Lecture will feature Professor Susan Rubin Suleiman, speaking on on “Irène Némirovsky and the ‘Jewish Question’ in Interwar France.” The lecture is scheduled for Thursday evening, February 4, 2010, in Washington.
Susan Rubin Suleiman (with whom I have had the privilege of studying) is the C. Douglas Dillon Professor of the Civilization of France and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University. In her lecture, she will discuss the life and work of French writer Irène Némirovsky in relation to questions of Jewish identity in France before, during, and after the Holocaust.
A reception will follow the lecture. Reservations are requested.
