Museum Director's Blog

Kristallnacht and the Return of a Stolen Bible

2009-11-10T07:13:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, we hosted an event that saw the return of a 16th century bible to the Jewish community of Vienna, from which it was looted 71 years ago on Kristallnacht. Here are my introductory remarks at the ceremony: I want to welcome you to the Museum and to this important event that marks the return of a priceless book to its rightful owners after more than seven decades.

The Berlin Wall: Twenty Years

2009-11-09T15:09:00.004-05:00

Fragment of the Berlin Wall Over the weekend, I attended a reunion of Americans (Army, State Department, civilians) who were present in Berlin when the wall fell twenty years ago. I saw many old friends and colleague, and my memories flew back to that most exciting and surreal night. I had a front-row seat at one of the most remarkable events in modern history. The fall of the wall and

Fred Gottschalk

2009-09-14T18:54:00.003-04:00

Fred Gottschalk and DGM, Spring 2001 (Photo by Melanie Einzig) Dr. Alfred Gottschalk died on Saturday after a long struggle to recover from injuries that he received in an automobile accident last fall. I attended his funeral today at the Plum Street Temple in Cincinnati. Fred was my boss for a number of months when I first arrived at the Museum. He had

September 11th

2009-09-11T12:40:00.002-04:00

View From My Apartment Window It's impossible today not to focus on memories, and my mind keeps circling back to an event that we held at the Museum in early 2002 for the community to offer thoughts on healing after 9/11. Here are the remarks that I delivered at that emotional event: Remembering and rebuilding represent the essential themes of this Museum. Carefully carved

70 Years Ago...

2009-09-01T17:44:00.007-04:00

German soldiers prepare to enter Poland World War II began seventy years ago today with the German invasion of Poland, and the world was forever changed. I recall that on the 50th anniversary -- 20 years ago -- (I was living in Berlin and serving as the Director of the Berlin Document Center) I was invited to participate in an international conference on the start of World War II, which

Goodbye, Irène...

2009-08-27T09:54:00.007-04:00

Irène Némirovsky and her family, August 1939. (Courtesy of IMEC) Seventy years ago the Némirovsky family had no idea of the tragedy that the next years would bring. They were a family intact with successful parents and beloved daughters, who believed that they had every prospect of continuing as they were. The photo above captures the last moments of this family before the beginning

Julia!

2009-08-23T18:47:00.007-04:00

Jonathan Wenk/Columbia Pictures I saw "Julia and Julie" last weekend and was very moved. I suppose my reaction had much to do with my own relationship with Julia Child. I used to joke that I took Julia to bed with me most nights at college -- I meant the book, of course. I read both volumes cover to cover, and I cooked my way through most of the recipes. I also watched her various TV

Inglourious Basterds

2009-08-18T11:06:00.007-04:00

Francois Duhamel/Courtesy of the Weinstein Company We had a sneak preview of Quentin Tarantino's new film, Inglourious Basterds, last week at the Museum. The screening was introduced by Harvey Weinstein, and Tarantino hosted a Q&A after the film joined by Melanie Laurent, the female lead. I will confess that I was nervous about this screening given the nature of our audience and the

90th Birthday

2009-07-31T15:19:00.007-04:00

Robert M. Morgenthau during WWII I attended the 90th birthday party of our Chairman Robert M. Morgenthau last night. It was a wonderful celebration for family and friends. One guest remarked that Morgenthau was one of the few people he knew who had to leave work early to attend his 90th birthday. It is indeed remarkable that "the Boss" is still so active and engaged, not only in his day job

New Homepage Design for JewishGen

2009-07-29T15:36:00.007-04:00

We launched a new design for the JewishGen website homepage this week in advance of the annual meeting of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS), which opens this weekend in Philadelphia. If you haven't visited JewishGen, now would be a good time to try it. There is a special introduction for beginners, and the JewishGen FAQs offer a comprehensive guide to

2009-06-23T10:14:00.002-04:00

Officer Johns (Note: This post was originally published on June 14th, but got lost somehow in the ether...) Yesterday, I had just started my walk. I was in the City by myself (my wife was on an annual weekend retreat with her book group) and was looking forward to an uptempo crossing of the Brooklyn Bridge -- a route that offers a surprising incline and the most dramatic views of Brooklyn

New Life Exhibition

2009-05-20T17:11:00.009-04:00

Henryk Schönker and his Grandson, Ori(Photo by Hamutal Davidl) On May 5, I was in Poland and had the great pleasure of attending the opening of the latest exhibition at the Auschwitz Jewish Center in Oświęcim, which is an affiliate of our Museum. Entitled, New Life, the exhibition is a photographic tribute to Holocaust survivors from Oświęcim, Poland who live in Israel today. The exhibition

Beyond Swastika and Jim Crow

2009-05-01T15:53:00.008-04:00

Ernst Borinski teaching at Tougaloo College, MS, CA 1960. (Photo courtesy Tougaloo College Archives and The Mississippi Department of Archives and History) Last night, we opened our latest special exhibition, Beyond Swastika and Jim Crow: Jewish Refugee Scholars at Black Colleges. It was a very warm event with former students, and the families of professors, from the colleges represented in

Yom Hashoah

2009-04-22T14:51:00.007-04:00

Hsinju Lin and Yenming Chen in the Museum (photo by Melanie Einzig) Here are the short remarks I delivered at the Museum's staff and volunteer Yom Hashoah commemoration: I had a professor in college who used to point out the paradox that people would gather together to carry out an essentially private act – learning. "You can only learn by yourself," he said, "yet you come together to learn.

The Visit of the Cardinals

2009-03-24T13:38:00.006-04:00

Dr. Bernard Lander, Cardinal Vingt-Trois, DGM(AP Photo/Museum of Jewish Heritage and Touro College, Diane Bondareff) I have already written several time about Father Patrick Desbois and his important work. Our exhibition, The Shooting of Jews in Ukraine: Holocaust by Bullets, closed today. Among its last visitors was a delegation of Catholic leaders, who were shown through the exhibition by

The Boss

2009-03-03T13:20:00.005-05:00

Robert M. Morgenthau and David G. Marwell (Photo by Melanie Einzig) We learned last week that Robert M. Morgenthau, the Chairman of the Museum, has decided not to seek reelection and will step down as District Attorney of New York County (Manhattan) at the end of his ninth term in December. The Boss (as he is called), who will turn 90 in July, has been a remarkable force in New York public life

My thoughts on The Reader

2009-02-19T07:59:00.008-05:00

A lot of ink -- and gigabytes -- have been devoted to Steven Daldry's film, The Reader, which is up for a number of Oscars, including Best Picture. Much of what has been written is full of praise, while some is seething in its criticism. Perhaps the most vehement example of the latter is the Slate article by Ron Rosenbaum, which accuses The Reader

Mendelssohn

2009-01-26T17:21:00.004-05:00

We are all very excited about our upcoming concert featuring thirteen never-performed pieces by Felix Mendelssohn. Mendelssohn, who was enormously popular during his lifetime, published only a small fraction of his work before his death at 38. There are a number of factors that explain the surprising fact there are literally hundreds of unpublished, unperformed, and unknown Mendelssohn pieces.

Berlin

2009-01-21T13:43:00.011-05:00

The Steering Committee at the Haus der Wannsee Konferenz (Photo by Eileen Eder) I have just returned from a week in Germany where I attended a conference at the new Bergen-Belsen memorial museum, see Michael Kimmelman's article in today's New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/arts/design/22abro.html?_r=1&ref=arts). The centerpiece of the trip, however, was meeting up with the

Holocaust by Bullets

2008-11-24T17:33:00.008-05:00

Father Patrick Desbois at the Museum We opened our newest special exhibition on Sunday night. Here are the remarks I delivered at the opening: Good evening ladies and gentlemen, my name is David Marwell, and I am the director of the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. Opening an exhibition must surely be among a Museum Director’s most welcome responsibilities.

Rosa

2008-11-10T16:49:00.002-05:00

Rosa Strygler at our Generation to Generation Dinner We had our 20th annual Generation to Generation Dinner at the Museum last week and honored Rosa Stryler, our Trustee Emerita, who did so much to help establish the Museum. Rosa is a remarkable woman with a remarkable personal history. The following is an excerpt from my remarks at the dinner. I can’t imagine a better place to honor Rosa or

JewishGen

2008-08-27T13:46:00.012-04:00

I returned from Ireland (no opportunity to post, but I include a photo from the walk here) and went directly to the Conference of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) in Chicago. I attended the conference to announce an exciting new relationship that we have just worked out with Ancestry.com, the commercial genealogical website. The agreement with Ancestry

I was away...

2008-07-30T11:10:00.005-04:00

Moonrise over Lake Winnipesaukee Apologies for the absence of new posts. I was away in New Hampshire for a few days and am terribly occupied with two new exhibitions, which will open at the Museum this fall: Women of Letters: Irène Némerovsky and Suite Française, which has been the subject of several posts, and Holocaust by Bullets, about Father Patrick Desbois and his search for mass

Némirovsky Exhibition

2008-07-09T17:01:00.008-04:00

Sarah Griswold, Exhibitions Project Manager, with the famous valise The artifacts for our exhibition, Woman of Letters: Irène Némirovsky and Suite Française arrived from France recently, the first time any of them (with the exception of the manuscript of Suite Française) has ever been out of France. You can imagine our excitement in unpacking the crates and examining the powerful objects,

Documentary Film

2008-06-22T13:28:00.009-04:00

I have just returned from ten days in Germany, where I was working on a documentary film about the search for and prosecution of Nazi war criminals (working Title: Elusive Justice). I have been working with Jonathan Silvers, the film's director, for the past year or so and joined him and the crew (including the very talented cameraman, Bob Caccamise) in Berlin; from there, we traveled to