Posted on April 30th, 2008 in Kristallnacht | Leave A Comment
On Monday, April 28, I was invited (by Summer’s teacher) to be a guest speaker in two honor history classes. Summer had told her about my project. I was happy to oblige. If you know me, you know that I rarely turn down an opportunity to have people listen to what I say and look at what I make. Needless to say, I accepted.
The classes, one with about 10 students and the other with about 18, just started reading Elie Wiesel’s, “Night”. This is a powerful and disturbing account of the Wiesel family’s torture and suffering in the concentration camps of Germany and Poland. Although my project is directly related to the Holocaust, it’s (Kristallnacht) more obscure and less known.
I started by asking definition of words like “anti-Semitism” and “pogrom”. I talked about what I believe caused the world to turn against the Jews and to allow the near annihilation of them. For me, it was important to stress that living in Germany and understanding this history changed how I viewed the world. How living here made an abstract idea, a real life “concrete” event for me.
I quoted Martin Luther King, Jr., “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” I talked about “indifference” and silence - or turning your head when bad things are happening to other people. I referenced this poem by Pastor Martin Niemöller too.
——————
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn’t a Jew.When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
——————-
I showed a 6 minute presentation I put together of my work so far and then took questions. It was very rewarding and I look forward to doing it again.
Tags: germany, high school, Kristallnacht, mannheim, photographs
Posted on April 10th, 2008 in Family & Friends | Leave A Comment
We love you and you will be missed!!! Lucky Jacobson entered Heaven on April 9, 2008 at about 1830 in Viernheim, Germany. He would have been 18 years-old this August 10! He was in kidney failure due to his age. He had a wonderful life and we were there for him to the end. This photograph was taken on one of his many trips around Europe. This was in Lucca, Italy on a beautiful September morning of 2007.
Posted on April 7th, 2008 in Europe | 1 Comment
My first impressions of Berlin were, “Ummm, this is Berlin?” In other words, I wasn’t that impressed. It’s a large city, some 3 - 4 million people. It’s spread out and takes forever to get anywhere (by foot). The U-Bahn is good, but again, somewhat inconvenient. However, I think the biggest let down was the “industrial” feel of the place. I’m not going to kvetch about the entire trip or city, because there are some very good things in Berlin to experience.
Start the day with coffee/espresso!
The Jewish Museum Berlin: This is an amazing place. Moreover, we got to see an exhibit called, “Typisch - Klichees von Juden und Anderen” (”Stereotypes - Cliches of Jews and Others”). The show consists of common stereotypes about groups of people as well as out right racial and ethnicity issues. It’s frightening when I think about all of the subtle racial and ethnic beliefs we all have. There were a couple of very moving/interesting pieces in the show. The first was “49 Jewish Noses” from Dennis Kardon. It was interesting to find the “nose” of Nan Goldin in this piece. She’s a photographer that I like (and met once). When I met her, I was challenging her on her view, and what she had said about the work of Donna Ferrato. She said I was “belligerent”. I thought that it was uncalled for at the time, but I my passion sometimes translates as aggression. Another piece that stood out was called, “You Don’t Have To Be Jewish To Love Levy’s Real Jewish Rye” by Howard Zieff. I bought the catalog/book.
“49 Jewish Noses”
Anne Sprinkle “Tit Print”
“A Bookend”
“You Don’t Have to be Jewish…”
The museum is huge. You could spend days in it and not see everything. I had flashbacks of the Louvre when we were walking through it. It starts at the beginning of the Jewish history and works its way through the Holocaust. Daniel Liebeskind did an amazing job with the architecture. If you look at an aerial of the building is looks like a broken star of David.
“Jean and Quinn in the disorienting memorial”
This is the memorial we were in (above photo)
those are olive trees growing on the tops of the
pillars - the ground is uneven and disorienting.
One place that was especially moving is called “The Holocaust Tower”. Jean and I were the only ones in it for a few minutes. It’s very dark and very cold. There is one bit of light at the top (way up there) and you can hear the outside world. It was eerie. When we tried to leave, I couldn’t open the door (I was pulling and should have been pushing) it freaked me out! There was a large room with metal “faces” called “Fallen Leaves” this too was very moving and eerie - I’ve uploaded a video here.
“Inside the Holocaust Tower”
When we were finished at the museum, we headed over to “Checkpoint Charlie” and “The Wall”. It was a great day, and like all of our adventures here, will be indelibly burned into our memories!
“Checkpoint Charlie - East Germany-West Germany”
West Berlin - US Soldier photo.
East Berlin - Soviet Soldier photo.
“Quinn and Jean in front of a piece of the Wall”
“The ‘real’ still standing wall that separated
the East from the West - mind blowing history”
