Michael Berenbaum Speaks on Kristallnacht at the Athenaeum

Monday, November 10th will be the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht. In memory of those who were victims, the Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights will be sponsoring Michael Berenbaum at the Athenaeum. For more information, see the Forthnightly's description below:

Kristallnacht: Memory and Legacies, The Synagogue and Its Rabbis under Oppression in Nazi Germany

MICHAEL BERENBAUM

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2008

November 9-10, 2008 marks the 70th anniversary of tragic event known as Kristallnacht (Crystal Night). On this evening, 92 Jews were murdered and 25,000 were arrested and deported to concentration camps in Nazi Germany. In addition, hundreds of synagogues were destroyed, and thousand of Jewish businesses and homes were ransacked. Kristallnacht is referred by many as the start of the Holocaust.

Michael Berenbaum is a writer, lecturer, and teacher consulting in the conceptual development of museums and the content and conceptual development of historical films. He is director of the Sigi Ziering Institute: Exploring the Ethical and Religious Implications of the Holocaust and also a professor of Jewish Studies at American Jewish University. For three years, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation. He was also the Director of the United States Holocaust Research Institute at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Previously he served as Director of the Jewish Community Council of Greater Washington, Opinion Page editor of the Washington Jewish Week and Deputy Director of the President's Commission on the Holocaust where he authored its Report to the President. He has taught at Wesleyan University, Yale University and has served as a visiting professor at George Washington University, The University of Maryland, and American University. Berenbaum is the author and editor of sixteen books, scores of scholarly articles, and hundreds of journalistic pieces. His most recent books include: A Promise to Remember: The Holocaust in the Words and Voices of Its Survivors and After the Passion Has Passed: American Religious Consequences.

Michael Berenbaum’s lecture at the Athenaeum is sponsored the Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights.

An Evening with Madame F

Wednesday night, the Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights and the Athenaeum are jointly sponsoring Claudia Stevens performance of An Evening With Madame F. The performance, which integrates both theater and and music, has been widely acclaimed. It tells the story of a Jewish musical performer and concentration camp survivor reflecting back on her experiences. See below for the description from the Athenaeum's Fortnightly:

An Evening with Madame F

CLAUDIA STEVENS

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2008

An Evening with Madame F is the internationally acclaimed musical drama created by Claudia Stevens for her performance as pianist, singer, and actor. Adopting the persona of an elderly concentration camp musician who had performed at Auschwitz, Stevens uses music actually played and sung by women inmates there. She draws on first-hand accounts to depict the struggle and moral dilemma of women who survived through performance. And, as a daughter of Holocaust survivors, she also meditates on the ethical problem of treating the Holocaust as the subject for artistic expression. One of the most honored Holocaust-related performances before the public, An Evening with Madame F was produced for television by PBS affiliate WCVE.

Claudia Stevens visit is jointly sponsored by the Center for Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights and the Athenaeum.

Claude Alexandre Speaks at the Athenaeum

Little coverage is given to the humanitarian crisis going on in Haiti right now. Hurricane Gustav, earlier this summer, killed many, but destroyed the livelihoods and communities of a countless number of more people. Micro-finance institutions had been operating in these areas for a few years assisting in development programs. However, Gustav destroyed the businesses of many of those receiving micro-finance loans. Claude Alexander, from Fonkoze, the largest Haitian micro-finance NGO, will be speaking on the topic at the Ath on Monday night. Here's the description from the Athenaeum's Fortnightly:

Microfinance, NGO's, and the Emergency in Haiti

CLAUDE ALEXANDRE

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2008

Claude Alexandre is a member of the board of Fonkoze, one of Haiti's largest and most influential micro-finance NGOs and a consultant and business adviser to non-profit organizations and NGOs. He will discuss the world of micro-finanace through the prism of Haiti and its attempts to recover from severe damage suffered in a hurricane this summer. More than 18,000 of Fonkoze's clients lost their businesses entirely.

CMC's Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights has begun a Haiti Initiative to aid Fonkoze and its clients in recovery and reconstruction.