The Museum Of Jewish Heritage Announces November and December Public Programming
By: BWW News Desk Oct. 27, 2017
Commemorating its 20th anniversary this year, the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust has announced a robust roster of programs for November and December that focus on learning the past, confronting the present, and educating the future.
- Programs on Hannah Arendt with scholars Leon Botstein, Marie Luise Knott, Seyla Benhabib, and Roger Berkowitz (Nov 8, Dec 4)
- Samantha Power, Former US Ambassador to the UN (Dec 7)
- Deporah Lipstadt, noted Holocaust historian (Dec 10)
Andy Goldsworthy, world-renowned artist, returns to the Museum for the launch of his new book Andy Goldsworthy: Projects. Goldsworthy's only permanent New York City installation, Garden of Stones, is located at the Museum.
For tickets, visit mjhnyc.org, call 646.437.4202, or buy 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. NOVEMBERWEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8 | 7 P.M.
The Correspondence of Hannah Arendt and Gershom Scholem
Dramatic Reading and Conversation | Actors will perform a dramatic reading of a selection of the searing and brilliant letters in which Hannah Arendt and Gershom Scholem debate the responsibility of Jewish intellectuals writing about the Holocaust; directed by Jonathan Rosenberg (Artist-in-Residence at the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College). The post-reading discussion will also feature Marie Luise Knott (Editor of The Correspondence of Hannah Arendt and Gershom Scholem, forthcoming from University of Chicago Press) in conversation with Professor Roger Berkowitz (Founder and Academic Director, Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College).
$12 general, $10 Museum members, $5 students
Co-presented by Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College
The Eichmann Show
Film | (2015, 92 min., Blu-ray, English) The behind the-scenes, true story of groundbreaking producer Milton Fruchtman and blacklisted TV director Leo Hurwitz, who overcame enormous obstacles to televise the trial and testimony of one of the world's most notorious war criminals: Adolf Eichmann. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Operation Finale: The Capture & Trail of Adolf Eichmann.
Free with Museum admission; advance registration recommended
Co-presented by City College of New York WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15 | 3 P.M. & 7 P.M.
Lectures | First-hand Accounts as Historical Evidence: Two Talks by Professor Christopher Browning (Professor Emeritus, University of North Carolina, Department of History)
PART ONE: 3 P.M. - Survivor Testimony
Though the accounts survivors delivered at Adolf Eichmann's trial powerfully shaped public memory, historians remained wary of using survivor testimony as evidence. However, in some instances-such as the Starachowice factory slave labor camps-survivor testimony is the sole evidence of the atrocities that took place.
PART TWO: 7 P.M. - Perpetrator Testimony
While in Argentina, Adolf Eichmann espoused Nazi ideology; his presentations were preserved on the "Sassen tapes." Before and during his trial in Israel, Eichmann was interrogated by Avner Less. He sent notes to his attorney, wrote his autobiography, and testified in court. Finally, on death row, Eichmann tried to reshape his legacy with extensive writings that were kept secret in Israel until 2000.
Two talks at one price: $12 general, $10 Museum members, $5 students
The Participants: The Men of the Wannsee Conference
Book Launch (Berghahn 2017) | On January 20, 1942, an infamous meeting of high-ranking members of the SS took place in Berlin-Wannsee. Who were the 15 men who attended the meeting, and what connected them? Authors Dr. Hans-Christian Jasch and Dr. Christoph Kreutzmüller of the Wannsee House in Germany will reveal their stories, discuss their post-war fates, and examine the ways in which this meeting is understood in present-day Germany.
Free with Museum admission; advance registration recommended DECEMBER
MONDAY, DECEMBER 4 | 3 P.M.
Vita Activa
Film | (2015, 132 min., Blu-ray, German, English, and Hebrew)
An intimate portrait of Hannah Arendt's life, Vita Activa features an abundance of archival materials and takes us to the places Arendt lived, worked, loved, and was betrayed. Presented in conjunction with Operation Finale: The Capture & Trial of Adolf Eichmann.
Free with Museum admission; advance reservation recommended MONDAY, DECEMBER 4 | 7 P.M.
Judging Eichmann: The Banality of Evil
Conversation | A distinguished panel convenes on the 42nd anniversary of Hannah Arendt's death to discuss the controversy around Arendt's coverage of the Eichmann trial for The New Yorker and her subsequent book. Featuring Professor Leon Botstein (President of Bard College and Leon Levy Professor of Arts and Humanities), Professor Seyla Benhabib (Eugene Meyer Professor of Political Science at Yale University), and moderated by Professor Roger Berkowitz (Founder and Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College).
$12 general, $10 Museum members, $5 students
Co-presented by Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6 | 3 P.M.
Elusive Justice
Film | (2011, 116 min., Blu-ray, English, Spanish, Hebrew, German)
An unprecedented examination of the more than six-decade global hunt for some of the 20th century's most infamous war criminals. The film features portraits of the Nazi hunters and the nations and institutions that helped bring war criminals to justice-or helped them escape. Presented in conjunction with Operation Finale: The Capture & Trial of Adolf Eichmann.
Free with Museum admission; advance reservation recommended WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6 | 7 P.M.
Holocaust Trials and the Memory of Judgment
Lecture | Is it possible for the law to do justice to the unprecedented and extraordinary crimes of the Holocaust and other crimes against humanity? Can trials organized to serve extralegal ends (educating the public, shaping collective memory, and protecting historical truth) also maintain their legal integrity? Professor Lawrence Douglas (James J. Grosfeld, Professor of Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought at Amherst College) will discuss the legacy of the trials of Adolf Eichmann and other Nazi criminals.
$12 general, $10 Museum members, $5 students THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7 | 7 P.M.
Human Rights Day: Former U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power in Conversation with Abraham H. Foxman
Conversation | Already widely known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning book A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide (2003), Samantha Power became the youngest person ever to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. from 2013-2017. A powerful crusader for U.S. foreign policy, genocide prevention, human rights and democracy, Power will sit down with her friend Abraham H. Foxman (Vice Chair of the Museum and Director of the Museum's Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism) nearly a year after resigning her post for an up-close-and-personal conversation about America's role in the world today and what she sees as the most urgent human rights issues of our time.
$25 general, $15 Museum members, $7 students SUNDAY, DECEMBER 10 | 3 P.M.
The Adolf Eichmann and David Irving Trials: A Study in Contrasts and Similarities - with Deborah Lipstadt
Lecture | In 1961, Deborah Lipstadt (Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies, Emory University)-then only 13 years old-sat transfixed in front of the television with her family as Adolf Eichmann was accused of being the chief operational officer of the Final Solution. More than 30 years later, Lipstadt found herself at the center of another highly publicized Holocaust trial, this time as a Holocaust historian accused of libel. In the Eichmann trial, survivors' courtroom testimony-which was itself not without controversy-played a central role in convicting Eichmann. In the David Irving trial, no survivors were allowed to testify. Lipstadt will discuss these two trials, of different centuries, with vastly different protagonists, but with one common thread: the raw anti-Semitism that provided fertile ground for Eichmann's commission of the crimes, and Irving's later denial of those crimes.
$25 general, $15 Museum members, $7 students TUESDAY, DECEMBER 12 | 7 P.M.
Andy Goldsworthy: Projects
Conversation | Sculptor, photographer, and environmentalist Andy Goldsworthy-creator of the Garden of Stones-returns to the Museum of Jewish Heritage on the occasion of the publication of Andy Goldsworthy: Projects. Molly Donovan (Curator of Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington) will speak with Goldsworthy about his large-scale sculptural work around the world. The new book presents more than 40 recent projects that are inspired by and interact with the natural landscape. It also features notes by the artist-many of which are published for the first time.
$25 general, $15 Museum members, $7 students General Information
Museum Hours AND LOCATION
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, 10 am to 6 pm
Wednesday and Thursday 10 am to 8 pm
Friday 10 am to 3 pm, EST / 10 am to 5 pm DST The Museum is closed on Saturdays, Jewish holidays, and Thanksgiving.
The Museum is located at 36 Battery Place in Lower Manhattan.
MUSEUM ADMISSIONGeneral Museum admission is $12 for adults, $10 for seniors, $7 for students, free for members and children 12 and younger. Museum admission is free on Wednesday and Thursday evenings between 4 P.M. and 8 P.M. A free walk-up tour is offered on Tuesdays at 3 P.M. of the Core Exhibition Note: Tickets to public programs do not include Museum admission. Public programs may require a separate fee. ABOUT THE MUSEUM OF JEWISH HERITAGE - A LIVING MEMORIAL TO THE HOLOCAUST
The Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust has thrived for two decades along the waterfront of New York Harbor, and was created as a living memorial to those who perished, as well as those who survived, 75 years ago. Established as a place of learning and reflection, a repository for artifacts and information, and a catalyst for dialogue across all age groups about vital lessons of Jewish history, the Museum serves both local and global communities and creates opportunities for diverse audiences to engage with history and to consider its relevance to the present. Since 1997, the Museum of Jewish Heritage has welcomed more than two million visitors; it maintains a collection of 30,000 artifacts, photographs, documentary films, and survivor testimonies and contains classrooms, a 400-seat theater (Edmond J. Safra Hall), special exhibition galleries, a resource center for educators, and a memorial art installation, Garden of Stones, designed by internationally acclaimed sculptor Andy Goldsworthy. The Museum receives general operating support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts. For more information, visit mjhnyc.org.
Videos