LA JOLLA, California (Press Release) — The Holocaust Living History Workshop has announced three upcoming presentations to be delivered at the Geisel Library on the UCSD campus. Here is a short synopsis of each:
The Power of One: The Holocaust in Bulgaria – with Aaron Cohen
On March 1, 1941, Bulgaria officially joined the Axis powers. The stage seemed set for the deportation of the local Jewish community. Thanks to the intervention of King Boris who refused to give in to the pressure of his German allies, thousands of Jews miraculously survived. Among them was Aaron Cohen, born in Plovdiv in 1929. Despite the dramatic events unfolding around him, Aaron spent a relatively normal childhood and youth, going to public school and preparing for the Youth Aliyah. In the fall of 1944, several weeks after the Soviet entry into Bulgaria, he emigrated to Palestine where he helped found Kibbutz Urim in the Negev. Eight years later, he moved to the United States. In this presentation he shares his remarkable story of resilience in adversity and the power of one person to make a difference.
Time: Wednesday, October 5, 5:00 pm
Place: Geisel Library, Seuss Room
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Mr. Rakowski: An Original Documentary by Jan Diederen –
with Richie Rakowski
Many stories of Holocaust survivors focus on the familiar pain, guilt, and shame suffered by survivors. This is not one of them. Mr. Rakowski, an original documentary by the Dutch filmmaker Jan Diederen, deals with the troubled relationship of Polish-born Sam Rakowski (1916) who survived Auschwitz and his son Richie (1952), a successful businessman residing in New York State. Sensitively and beautifully shot, the film illuminates the devastating impact of the transgenerational transmission of trauma. Acting as a vigilant mediator, Diederen’s camera enables a painful process of communication between two wounded beings that promises hope and reconciliation. The film screening is followed by a panel discussion with Richie Rakowski and Robert Schneider, a refugee from Nazi-occupied Europe and the co-director of “Think Only of Today: The Impact of the Holocaust on Three Generations” (2014).
Time: Wednesday, November 2, 5:00 pm
Place: Geisel Library, Seuss Room
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Out of Oswiecim: A Family’s Odyssey – with William Rosenbaum
Before Auschwitz, there was Oswiecim, a small town in Southern Poland that was home to Jews since the mid-sixteenth century. One of them was Jakob Enoch Rosenbaum, born in 1925 and Bar Mitzvah’d in 1938. After the outbreak of the Second World War, the Enoch Rosenbaum family was moved to the Bedzin ghetto where they endured a life of grueling forced labor, material hardship, and daily cruelty. Through one of the ironies of history, Jakob eventually ended up in Auschwitz, a few miles from his old home. In this presentation Jakob’s son, Del Mar-based William Rosenbaum, examines the story of Oswiecim/Auschwitz through the prism of his family history and shares some of the challenges of being a second-generation survivor.
Time: Wednesday, January 18, 5:00 pm
Place: Geisel Library, Seuss Room
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All events are free and open to the public.
For detailed information, visit our website at library.ucsd.edu/hlhw.
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The Holocaust Living History Workshop is an education and outreach program sponsored by the UC San Diego Library and the Jewish Studies program. It aims to preserve the memories of the victims and survivors of the Holocaust by offering public events involving witnesses, descendants, and scholars and through the use of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute’s Visual History Archive. Past Holocaust workshops are now part of the Library’s digital collections and can be accessed on our website.
For more information contact the project manager Susanne Hillman at hlhw@ucsd.edu or 858-534-7661.
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Preceding provided by the UCSD Library.