Museum of Jewish Heritage Announces 2020 Season of Winter Programs

Edited by: TJVNews Staff

The Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, which is currently presenting the acclaimed exhibition Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away. that was extended to run through August 2020, announces its winter roster of programs, including an array of talks, book launches, and performances, as well as commemorative events to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

“Seventy-five years after the liberation of Auschwitz, we are witnessing a global rise in antisemitism. The Museum’s winter programs have been curated to provide opportunities for people to learn the history and legacy of the Holocaust from precious eyewitnesses, prominent scholars, and artistic explorations by leading performers,” said Jack Kliger, President & CEO of the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. “As the Holocaust recedes further in time, our work to impart its lessons becomes increasingly important. The Museum experienced record-breaking attendance in 2019, and we look forward to welcoming more visitors in 2020.”

Winter highlights include:

• Historian and artist Elżbieta Janicka and YIVO Director Jonathan Brent discuss the complexities of how Poland is grappling with its history
• Theater of War’s The Investigation, a searing piece of theater adapted from the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials of 1963–1965, followed by a guided discussion with the audience about the lasting impact of genocide
• Write Me, a four-part creative arts series exploring the branding of women’s bodies during the Holocaust, in human trafficking, and as an artistic practice
• Book launch for the American edition of the award-winning memoir By Chance Alone with author Max Eisen joined by Phyllis G. Greenberg Heideman, President, International March of the Living, Eli Rubenstein, National Director, March of the Living Canada, and Cantor Aviva Rasky
• International Holocaust Remembrance Day / 75th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz commemorative events on Monday, January 27
• Mengele: Unmasking the Angel of Death book launch with author David G. Marwell
• Yiddish Glory: The Lost Songs of WWII, a Grammy-nominated music program premiering for the first time in New York and featuring the preeminent Russian Roma trio Loyko, singer-songwriter Psoy Korolenko, and narration by Yiddish scholar Anna Shternshis

Admission to most programs is complimentary except where prices are noted. For tickets, visit mjhnyc.org, call 646.437.4202, or purchase in-person at the box office. The Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust is located at 36 Battery Place in Lower Manhattan.

JANUARY

Speaker Series

Sunday, January 5 | 1 PM

Stories Survive Speaker Series

At our monthly Stories Survive Speaker Series, hear Holocaust survivors share their life stories in their own words. Maritza Shelley was born in 1928 in Budapest, Hungary. After the Nazi invasion of Hungary in 1944, she endured forced labor and a death march with her mother. They eventually reunited with Maritza’s sister, and all three women escaped, obtained false papers, and hitchhiked back to Budapest with a convoy of Nazis. Maritza moved to New York City in 1947.

Free; advance reservations recommended at mjhnyc.org/events.

Book Launch

Wednesday, January 8 | 7 PM – 8:30 PM

999: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz with author Heather Dune Macadam

In her new book, Heather Dune Macadam (co-author, Rena’s Promise) chronicles the tale of nearly 1,000 young Jewish women from Slovakia who were deceived into boarding a train for Auschwitz. Painstakingly researched, the book illuminates the women’s day-to-day lives and struggle for survival in the death camp. Join the author in conversation with Lori Weintrob (Director, Wagner College Holocaust Center) and descendants of the 999.

Free; advance reservations recommended at mjhnyc.org/events.

Conversation

Sunday, January 12 | 2 PM – 4 PM

Contemporary Rendering of Space and Memory at Treblinka

At this program co-presented by the Museum and YIVO, historian and photographer Elżbieta Janicka investigates Polish participation to the murder of Jews set up by the German Nazi state, as well as Polish counter-narratives about the Holocaust and Jewish history. Janicka’s visual works examine the consequences of the Holocaust on urban topography and non-urban landscape. In conversation with YIVO Director Jonathan Brent, Janicka will discuss, among other works, a photographic project titled “Herbarium” that she has been pursuing for 15 years within the area of Treblinka II.

Free; advance reservations recommended at mjhnyc.org/events.

Panel Discussion

Monday, January 13 | 7 PM – 8:30 PM

Write Me: Preview and Artist Panel (Series Part 1 of 4)

Join artists, scholars, and activists in a series that explores the branding of women’s bodies in the Holocaust and human trafficking. Write Me (2019), a short film, follows an older woman who joins other survivors in reclaiming the histories tattooed on their bodies. Adapted from the poem “After Auschwitz” by Deborah Kahan Kolb and premiering at the New York Jewish Film Festival, this preview screening of Write Me will be followed by a discussion with director Pearl Gluck, poet Deborah Kahan Kolb, composer Lisa Gutkin, Auschwitz survivor Shirley Gottesman, trafficking survivor and activist Barbara Freeman, and tattoo artist Virginia Elwood.

Co-sponsored by Battery Park City Authority

Free; advance reservations recommended at mjhnyc.org/events.

Special Event

Tuesday, January 14 | 7 PM – 9 PM

Secrets of the Dead: Bombing Auschwitz PBS Premiere

In this episode of the acclaimed PBS series produced by THIRTEEN, historians, survivors, and experts consider one of the great moral dilemmas of the 20th century: should the Allies have risked killing Auschwitz prisoners and bombed the camp to stop future atrocities? Executive Producer Stephanie Carter will discuss the making of this episode after the screening.

Co-sponsored by THIRTEEN with funding from The Sylvia A. and Simon B. Poyta Endowment to Fight Anti-Semitism

Free; advance reservations recommended at mjhnyc.org/events.

Theater

Thursday, January 16 | 7 PM – 9 PM

The Investigation

This work of documentary theater is based on Peter Weiss’ 1965 play adapted from the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials of 1963-65. Performed by a diverse cast of performers from communities affected by genocide, the play is followed by a dialogue with the audience about the human capacity for evil.

This production is made possible by the generous support of Bruce Ratner.

Directed by Bryan Doerries

Co-presented with Theater of War and National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene

Free; advance reservations recommended at mjhnyc.org/events.

Concert

Soul to Soul

Sunday, January 19 | 2 PM & 6 PM

National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene presents this annual MLK Jr. Day tradition exploring the intersections between African-American and Yiddish musical traditions during the Civil Rights Era, including Yiddish theater songs, songs of Jewish immigrants, jazz and classic spirituals. Conceived and directed by NYTF Artistic Director Zalmen Mlotek, it stars Lisa Fishman, Cantor Magda Fishman, Elmore James and Tony Perry. In Yiddish and English with English supertitles.

Tickets start at $35 | NYTF.org or 866.811.4111

Book Launch

Wednesday, January 22 | 7 PM – 8:30 PM

By Chance Alone with author Max Eisen

At 15, Max Eisen was saved from certain death in Auschwitz by a Polish physician who employed him as a cleaner in his operating room. This remarkable memoir received Canada’s top literary award in 2019. Celebrating the launch of the book’s American edition, Eisen will be joined by Phyllis G. Greenberg Heideman, President, International March of the Living; Eli Rubenstein, National Director, March of the Living Canada; and Cantor Aviva Rasky.

Co-presented with the Canadian Consulate, Harper Collins, International March of the Living, and USC Shoah Foundation

Free; advance reservations recommended at mjhnyc.org/events.

Monday, January 27

International Holocaust Remembrance Day – 75th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz

Holocaust Commemoration

10 AM – 6 PM

Public candle-lighting area in the Anne & Bernard Spitzer Grand Foyer and free admission to MJH Highlights, which includes Ordinary Treasures: Highlights from the Museum of Jewish Heritage Collection, Rendering Witness: Holocaust-Era Art as Testimony, The Pickman Keeping History Center, and Andy Goldsworthy’s contemplative Garden of Stones.