This Saturday marks the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass” in which a tidal wave of Nazi violence swept through Germany and Austria, leaving in its wake not only broken glass, burnt synagogues, and desecrated Torahs, but shattered human lives. To us, these events seem remote at best. For many of our
Perspectives on Kristallnacht November 7 | 4:00 – 6:00 PM Wallace All Faiths Chapel | Fish Interfaith Center Holocaust Survivors and Witnesses to Kristallnacht Engelina Billauer, Curt Lowens, Idele Stapholtz, Cantor Leopold Szneer Chapman University Faculty Participants School of Law: Michael Bazyler; Department of History: Marilyn Harran, Stefan Ionescu, Jennifer Keene, Shira Klein, Jeff Koerber
Earlier this week we at Chapman University celebrated the news that Dr. François Englert, Distinguished Visiting Professor in Residence and founding member of Chapman’s Institute for Quantum Studies, had received the Nobel Prize in Physics. He is a person who has accomplished the truly extraordinary–and he is also a child survivor of the Holocaust.
A few days ago I viewed for the first time in several years Steven Spielberg’s acclaimed film Schindler’s List. In my experience, relatively few films remain meaningful and visually powerful so many years after one’s first viewing. That was certainly the case for me with Schindler’s List.
Today marks the release of The Boy on the Wooden Box , the memoir of our dear friend Leon Leyson. Leon was a guiding spirit of our program, always excited about new facets of our program in Holocaust history and education at Chapman University. It seems only appropriate that we initiate our blog today. I