Jan 17, 2011
Schedule Announced for Holocaust Education Week
The Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation will promote greater awareness about the World War II era and its lessons for the future, as it presents the 9th Annual Holocaust Education Week, Monday, January 31 through Thursday, February 10, at venues throughout Miami-Dade County.
The five-part series will feature perspectives about the Holocaust based on eyewitness accounts, scholarly research and cultural presentations. The series is sponsored by Naomi Wilzig in memory of Siggi Wilzig.
“Laughter As Resistance: Performance During the Holocaust” will be presented on Monday, January 31 at 4:15 p.m. in The Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies Auditorium at the University of Miami, 105 Merrick Building, 5202 University Drive, Coral Gables. The program will focus on Jewish cabaret, Yiddish theater and other performing arts during the Holocaust. A special brand of social and political satire is evident in the archival film footage, photographs and brief cabaret song performances that will be included in the presentation.
“Survivor Testimony Through Literature” will take place on Tuesday, February 1, beginning at 11:15 a.m., at the Miami-Dade College Homestead Campus, 500 College Terrace, Building F, Room 222. Moderated by Dr. Miriam Klein Kassenoff, a panel of three Holocaust survivors will share their books about their experiences during the Nazi years. Authors Alex Gross, Wendy Rothfield and Joe Sachs will movingly describe how each of their lives was uprooted and descended into chaos.
“Cities of Light: Jewish Cabarets in Eastern Europe – A One Woman Show” will be performed on Wednesday, February 2 at 2 p.m. at the Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center, 20400 N.E. 30 Avenue, North Miami Beach. This original show by Rebecca Joy Fletcher offers a thrilling theatrical and musical romp through the Jewish cabarets of Europe before World War II.
“Medical Resistance and the Third Reich” will be presented on Thursday, February 3 at noon on the Miami-Dade College Medical Campus, 950 N.W. 20 Street in Miami. Cheyenne Martin, RN, PhD, of the University of Texas School of Nursing will discuss an international study of physicians’ participation in the Nazi-era European resistance.
“Liberating Buchenwald” will be discussed on Thursday, February 10 at 3:30 p.m. on the Miami-Dade College Kendall Campus, 11011 S.W. 104 Street, Building 2, Room 2111. The speaker, Dr. Leon Bass, was a 19-year-old African American sergeant serving in a segregated U.S. Army unit when he encountered the “walking dead” of the Buchenwald death camp. Repressing his memories for decades, Bass taught high school in Philadelphia and became involved in the civil rights movement, when he was moved to declare to his students, “I was there. I saw.”
Tickets for the 9th Holocaust Education Week are free, but advance reservations are required due to limited seating availability. For reservations and information, contact the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach at [email protected] or call 305.538.1663.
