A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
 
(New York, N.Y.) The January-March public programming schedule at the Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust has been announced. Highlights this season include The Jewish Experience in Hungarian Cinema, a three-week-long film series from January 30 through February 13 featuring Academy Award-winning films and other important works.
 
Young families will celebrate Tu B’Shevat at the Museum with The Hatseller and the Monkeys, an interactive story with music on January 23. Audience favorite, Mama Doni, will return for Hamantaschen Hip Hop, a special Purim family concert on March 20.
 
Theatrical offerings this season include Etty, a one-woman show written and performed by Susan Stein based on the writings of a young woman in Amsterdam on the eve of her deportation. Austin Pendleton will direct this stellar performance on February 2.
 
Other film highlights include a presentation of Nuremberg: The Greatest Courtroom Drama in History. On March 16, Sandra Schulberg, the historic film’s restorer and producer, will screen and discuss the monumental work. On March 23, New York Women in Film & Television’s Women’s Film Preservation Fund will present the 30th anniversary presentation of the groundbreaking film Playing for Time. Producer Linda Yellen and cast members Marisa Berenson and Shirley Knight will take part in a post-screening discussion.
 
Other upcoming programs in January, February, and March:

• A Thousand Darknesses: Lies and Truth in Holocaust Fiction – Author Ruth Franklin will discuss her provocative new book (January 12)
• Walking Israel – NBC Journalist Martin Fletcher will talk about his extraordinary 110-mile journey along the coast of Israel with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell (January 26)
• Sosua: Dare to Dance Together – Jewish and Dominican teens star in this musical performance directed by the renowned Elizabeth Swados (March 6)
• Behind-the-Scenes Preview of the Last Folio  – Photographer Yuri Dojc and filmmaker Katya Krausova will discuss the Museum’s new exhibition (March 24)

Detailed descriptions of all the programs listed above are included with this release.
 
The Museum’s three-floor Core Exhibition educates people of all ages and backgrounds about the rich tapestry of Jewish life over the past century—before, during, and after the Holocaust.  Special exhibitions include The Morgenthaus: A Legacy of Service, extended through September 5, 2011 and Project Mah Jongg, extended through February 27, 2011. Fire in My Heart: The Story of Hannah Senesh is on view through August 7, 2011. It is also home to the award-winning Keeping History Center, an award winning interactive visitor experience, and Andy Goldsworthy’s memorial Garden of Stones. The Museum offers visitors a vibrant public program schedule in its Edmond J. Safra Hall and receives general operating support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
 
Public Programs
 
Wednesday, January 12, 7 P.M.
A Thousand Darknesses: Lies and Truth in Holocaust Fiction (Oxford, 2010)
Author Ruth Franklin interviewed by Prof. James Young
 
In her provocative study, Ruth Franklin, senior editor at the New Republic, explores significant literary works from Elie Wiesel’s Night to Jonathan Safran Foer’s Everything is Illuminated and argues that fiction is an equally crucial vehicle for understanding the Holocaust.
 
Franklin delves into the differences between writing a novel about the Holocaust and fabricating a memoir, and asks whether narratives about the Holocaust have a special obligation to be faithful to the facts. She concludes that the memory-obsessed culture of the last few decades has led society to mistakenly focus on testimony as the only valid form of Holocaust writing and that we have lost sight of the essential role that imagination plays in the creation of any literary work, including the memoir.

Ruth Franklin’s writing has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post Book World, and the London Review of Books.
 
James E. Young is Professor of English and Judaic Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is the author of At Memory’s Edge: After-images of the Holocaust in Contemporary Art and Architecture, The Texture of Memory, which won the National Jewish Book Award in 1994, and Writing and Rewriting the Holocaust. He was also the guest curator of an exhibition at the Jewish Museum, entitled The Art of Memory: Holocaust Memorials in History.
 $10, 5 for members
 
Sunday, January 23, 2:30 P.M.
The Hatseller and the Monkeys
 
Celebrate the New Year for Trees with Play Me a Story, the musical storytelling duo, who will perform an interactive Tu B’Shevat story with handmade props and costumes, magical sounds from the forest, and original Klezmer-style music. Following the performance, children are invited for Tu B’Shevat-themed craft activities. For ages 3 to 10.
 
Play Me A Story is the creation of the Israeli born duo of teacher and actress Maya Blank and instrumentalist Uri Sharlin. Maya Blank was seen in leading roles in several films and stage productions, at the National Habimah Theater.

Uri Sharlin has collaborated with various renowned musicians including Natalie Merchant, Roberto Rodriguez, and Pharaoh’s Daughter. Uri and Maya have appeared together in the HBO series Flight of the Conchords.
 
$10, $7 children 10 and under
Museum members: $7, $5 children 10 and under
 
Wednesday, January 26, 7 P.M.                                                                Walking Israel (Thomas Dunne Books, 2010) Author Martin Fletcher, NBC Tel Aviv Bureau Chief interviewed by Andrea Mitchell, NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent and host, MNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Report

In the summer of 2008, Fletcher spent two weeks trekking along the 110-mile coast of Israel to take a look with fresh eyes at the country beyond the guns and bombs on the news. He found that this quirky, surprising, and complex land is filled with fascinating and wildly diverse people.  The book is packed with hilarious moments, historical insights, emotional, true-life tales, and, above all, great storytelling.

Martin Fletcher is one of the most respected foreign correspondents in television news. He has won five Emmys, a Columbia University duPont award, and several Overseas Press Club awards. He spent the last thirty years as NBC News Bureau Chief in Tel Aviv.

Andrea Mitchell has covered presidential campaigns for NBC News and MSNBC programs, including “Today,” “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams,” “Hardball,” “Morning Joe,” and “Meet the Press.” Mitchell currently covers foreign policy, intelligence, and national security issues for all NBC News properties. 
$12, $10 students/seniors, $7 members
 
Film Series
The Jewish Experience in Hungarian Cinema
Sunday, January 30; Sunday, February 6; and Sunday, February 13
 
Sunday, January 30
1 P.M. Confidence (Bizalom)
(1980, BETA, SP, 107 min. Hungarian with English subtitles)
1980 Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Film
Directed by István Szabó
Post-screening discussion with film critic Leonard Quart
 
After Kata’s husband goes into hiding during World War II, she poses as the wife of a man she has never met in order to conceal her Jewish identity. Their volatile arrangement, which if exposed would mean imprisonment or death, eases when they become lovers. This film explores the lack of trust that threatens to consume their relationship.
 
Leonard Quart is professor emeritus of Cinema Studies at the College of Staten Island, CUNY. His essays and articles have appeared in Film Quarterly, Dissent, The Forward, and London Magazine, among others. For over 20 years, he has been an editor and contributing editor of Cineaste. He is the co-author of books including The Films of Mike Leigh and How the War was Remembered.
 
3:30 P.M.
Mephisto
(1981, BETA AP, 144 min., German with English subtitles)
Directed by István Szabó
1981 Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film
Post-screening discussion with film critic Leonard Quart
 
A Faustian tale set in the early 1930s, apolitical, ambitious actor Hendrik Hofgen sells his soul to the Nazis for the opportunity to perform propaganda plays for the Reich. Portrayed by the charismatic Klaus Mari Brandauer, he soon becomes Germany’s most popular actor. Adapted from a 1936 novel by Klaus Mann based on the real actor Gustav Grundgens, the New York Times has called Mephisto an “extremely handsome film, often quite stylish and very well played.”
 
 
Sunday, February 6, 1 P.M.
Sunshine
(1999, DVD, 181 min.)
Directed by István Szabó
Starring Ralph Fiennes, Rosemary Harris, Rachel Weisz, and Jennifer Ehle
Post-screening discussion with Prof. Jerry Carlson, film studies, The City College & Graduate Center, CUNY
 
This epic drama, spanning from the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s, follows the Sonnenschein family through five generations of social and political upheaval and personal conflicts in Hungary. Sunshine, a panoramic film written by István Szabó and playwright Israel Horowitz, notably features Ralph Fiennes in three different roles.
 
Professor Jerry Carlson is a specialist in narrative theory, global independent film, and the cinemas of the Americas. He is coordinator of Critical Studies in the Film & Video Program at The City College and a member of the doctoral faculty in the Ph.D. Program in French and Film Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center. In addition, he is an active producer, director, and writer.
 
Sunday, February 13
1 P.M.
The Revolt of Job
(1983, VHS, 105 min., Hungarian with English subtitles)
Directed by Imre Gyongyossy and Barna Kabay
1984 Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film
Post-screening discussion with Prof. Jerry Carlson
 
In this tender film, an elderly Jewish couple, whose own children have died, attempt to adopt a Christian child in 1943 and teach him about their spiritual heritage.
 
3:30 P.M. Fateless
(2005, DVD, 140 min., Hungarian with English subtitles)
Directed by Lajos Koltai
Post-screening discussion with Prof. Jerry Carlson
Based on the Nobel Prize-winning book, this film is a semi-autobiographical tale of Gyuri, a 14-year-old Jewish boy from Budapest, who is sent to Buchenwald. An optimist, he returns home only to feel alienated from his Christian neighbors and from his Jewish friends who both want to put the past behind them. The New York Times called this film “among the best non-documentary cinematic treatments of the Holocaust yet produced.”

Each film is $10, $7 student/seniors, $5 for members

A tour of Fire in My Heart: The Story of Hannah Senesh will be offered at 12 p.m. each Sunday. Space is limited and pre-registration is required. Call 646.437.4202.
This film series is made possible by the Hungarian Cultural Institute in New York and is presented in conjunction with the Museum’s latest exhibition, Fire in My Heart: The Story of Hannah Senesh.
 
Wednesday, February 2, 7 P.M.
Etty
Adapted from Etty Hillesum’s letters and diaries and performed by Susan Stein
Post-performance discussion with director Austin Pendleton and actress Susan Stein
 
Etty, a bright young Jewish woman in Amsterdam documented her insights while facing Nazi brutality. This one-hour play explores her dire ethical dilemmas and her struggle to maintain her faith in humanity on the eve of deportation. Praised for its unflinching honesty, complexity, and focus on human rights, Etty was nominated by Amnesty International for their Freedom of Expression Award.

Susan Stein appeared in Arthur Miller’s American Clock, directed by Austin Pendleton at HB Playwrights Foundation. Other roles include Louise in Lanford Wilson’s The Great Nebulae of Orion, W1 in Beckett’s Play, and Wanda in Christopher Durang’s Wanda’s Visit. Susan studied acting at NYU Graduate School and SUNY Purchase.

Austin Pendleton has an extensive career that spans over 40 years. He is an American film, television and stage actor, a playwright, and a theater director and teacher. He was seen as Friar Lawrence at the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park production of Romeo and Juliet in 2007; he played the Army Chaplain in their 2006 production of Mother Courage. He is an ensemble member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company and the author of Orson’s Shadow, Uncle Bob, and Booth.
$15, $12 students/seniors, $10 members
 
Sunday, March 6, 2:30 P.M.
Sosua: Dare to Dream Together
Post-performance Q&A with renowned director and Tony Award nominee Elizabeth Swados
 
Based on monologues and songs written by NYC Dominican and Jewish teens, this performance highlights their connections to one another while interweaving the historical story of Jewish refugees escaping the Holocaust and finding sanctuary in the Dominican Republic.
 
The performance is the culmination of 10 months of collaborative work between 10 Jewish and 10 Dominican teens and Swados who composed and directed the play last year. The 2011 version of the play will welcome new cast members who will help create new monologues and songs.
Elizabeth Swados is best known for her Broadway and international smash hit Runaways. She has composed, written, and directed for over 30 years. Some of her works include the Obie Award winning Trilogy at La Mama, Alice at the Palace with Meryl Streep at the New York Shakespeare Theater Festival and Groundhog, which was optioned by Milos Forman for a film. Her work has been performed on Broadway, off-Broadway, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Carnegie Hall, and locations all over the world. She has received five Tony nominations, three Obie Awards, a Guggenheim Fellowship, Ford Grant, Helen Hayes Award, and others.
This production is made possible through the support of the Community Connections Committee, part of the New York Jewry Task Force of UJA-Federation’s Commission on the Jewish People.
 
$15, $12 students/seniors, $10 members
 
 
Wednesday, March 16, 7 P.M.
Nuremberg:  The Greatest Courtroom Drama in History 
(USA, 1948/2009, 35 mm, 78 min., English and German with English subtitles)
Original version written and directed by Stuart Schulberg; restoration by Sandra Schulberg and Josh Waletzky

Post-screening discussion with Sandra Schulberg
The Allies’ own film of the greatest courtroom drama of all time — the 1945 Nuremberg trial of top Nazi war criminals — never played in U.S. theaters. Sandra Schulberg and Josh Waletzky have masterfully restored this historic movie, originally directed by Schulberg’s father and commissioned by Pare Lorentz. 

The restoration team reconstructed the musical score and Liev Schreiber re-recorded the narration. Nuremberg, the first major trial to prosecute crimes against humanity, addressed questions of guilt and complicity in unimaginable atrocities.

Sandra Schulberg, the restoration’s producer and co-creator, has had a wide ranging career spanning over 20 years. She spent seven years in Europe as a senior executive for American Playhouse/Playhouse International Pictures where she was involved in more than two dozen films including I Shot Andy Warhol, Angels & Insects, and Fool’s Fire. She was executive producer of the Oscar-nominated Quills, Undisputed, and I’ll Take You There. Schulberg founded the Independent Film Project (IFP) in 1979 and was awarded a special Spirit Award in 1994 for her contribution to American independent cinema. She is an adjunct assistant professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School where she teaches Feature Film Financing and International Co-production.
$10, $7 students/seniors, $5 members
 
 
Sunday, March 20, 3:30 P.M.
Hamantaschen Hip Hop with the Mama Doni Band
 
1:30-3:30 craft activities – free with concert ticket
 
Families are invited to decorate groggers and make crowns to enjoy during the concert.
 
Join the Mama Doni Band for a funky Purim rock concert featuring a costume parade and songs such as “The Kooky Cookie,” “Costume Conundrum,” and “Hey, Man! You’re Acting Like Haman!” For ages 3 to 10.
 
The Mama Doni Band is made up of leader Doni Zasloff Thomas; Justin Goldner, guitar; Alexander Tyshkov, bass; and Cliff Ramsay, drums.  Their first album, I Love Herring, was released in 2008. Their new album is Shabbat Shaboom. The band is the winner of the Simcha Award at the 2008 International Jewish Music Festival in Amsterdam.
 
This concert is made possible through a generous gift from the Margaret Neubart Foundation Trust
 
$10, $7 children 10 and under; Museum members $7, $5 children 10 and under
 
 
Wednesday, March 23, 6:30 P.M.
30th Anniversary Presentation
New York Women in Film & Television’s Women’s Film Preservation Fund presents
Playing for Time
(1980, HD Cam, 150 min.)
Directed by Daniel Mann; screenplay by Arthur Miller
Post-screening discussion with producer Linda Yellen and cast members Marisa Berenson, Shirley Knight, and others to be announced
 
The Emmy Award-winning film dramatizes the true story of a group of women who hoped to escape death by performing in an orchestra while imprisoned at Auschwitz.
 
Vanessa Redgrave stars as Fania Fenelon in her American television debut. Fenelon was a Jewish cabaret singer in Paris at the time of the Nazi invasion. Shipped to Auschwitz, she is sure she is doomed, but a SS camp matron orders Fenelon and several other female inmates to form a prisoners’ orchestra in order to perform for those who are herded into the gas chambers. The film raises several questions about courage, guilt, and survival. Playing for Time earned Emmy awards for Redgrave, Arthur Miller, and supporting actress Jane Alexander.
Linda Yellen’s films have been shown at many prestigious festivals, such as the Cannes, Monte Carlo, New York, Aspen, Banff, Palm Springs, Hamptons, and Deauville Film Festivals. Her films include The Simian Line, Chantilly Lace, and The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana. Linda’s projects have also received numerous awards including two Peabodys, and seven Emmys.

Marisa Berenson’s most recent film is the acclaimed I Am Love. She came into the spotlight in the 1970s as a top fashion model. Her other films include Cabaret, Barry Lyndon, and Death in Venice.

Shirley Knight has won a Tony Award, three Emmys, two Golden Globes, and awards at the Venice and Cannes Film Festivals. Her films include The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, Sweet Bird of Youth, Dutchmen, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, and As Good as it Gets, among others. On television she has appeared on Desperate Housewives, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, House, Hot in Cleveland, and many more.
$15, $12 students/seniors, $10 NYWIFT and Museum members
 
Thursday, March 24, 7 P.M.
Behind-the-Scenes Preview of the Last Folio
Moderated by Museum director Dr. David G. Marwell; with photographer Yuri Dojc and filmmaker Katya Krausova
 
Join the exhibition team for a multimedia look at the Museum’s new exhibition. Hear first-hand from the   photographer and filmmaker about their journey to Slovakia to capture the evocative images and scenes in the Last Folio. Following the program, ticket holders are welcome to be the first to view the exhibition before it opens to the public.
 
Born in Czechoslovakia, Yuri Dojc arrived in North America as a refugee in 1969. Four decades later, Yuri’s photographs adorn the walls of private collections and galleries all over the world including the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Canada, the National Museum of Slovakia, and the Library of Congress. In 2001, he received the medal of honor from the Slovak Ambassador to the United States for We Endured, a series of portraits of Holocaust survivors.

Katya Krausova is an independent television producer/director whose work has been broadcast on national television channels and screened at prestigious film festivals around the world. She arrived in Britain following the 1968 Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia. She is a director of a leading UK independent film and television production company called Portobello Media and Portobello Pictures, which won the 1997 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar for Kolya.
 
$12, $10 students/seniors, $7 members
 
 
Exhibitions
 
Last Folio: Remnants of Jewish Life in Slovakia
Opening March 25, 2011
 
Last Folio features stunning photographs taken by Yuri Dojc of once-vibrant Jewish communities throughout Slovakia.  His photographic journey began in an abandoned school in Bardejov, where time has stood still since the day in 1943 when its students were taken to concentration camps.  His images capture the poignant ruins of schools, synagogues, and cemeteries—remnants from a Jewish past. A documentary created by Katya Krausova follows Dojc through Slovakia, and is part of the exhibition.
 
The exhibition is made possible by a leadership gift in memory of John Grunwald by Rita Grunwald. Additional support provided by the May and Samuel Rudin Foundation.
 
 
Fire in My Heart: The Story of Hannah Senesh
On view in the Irving Schneider and Family Gallery through August 7, 2011
www.mjhnyc.org/hannah
 
Among Israel’s most important heroes is Hannah Senesh, who died by firing squad in 1944 at age 23.
This first-ever major exhibition tells how this Budapest-born poet, diarist, and author of the hymn Eli, Eli discovered her love for the Land of Israel, how she volunteered for  a mission to rescue downed Allied fliers and Jews from Nazi-occupied Hungary, and how she became an enduring symbol of courage and determination.

This exhibition is made possible by leadership gifts in loving memory of Anne Ratner from her children and grandchildren, and from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. Additional support provided by the David Berg Foundation and The Laszlo N. Tauber Family Foundation, Inc.
 
We are grateful to the Senesh Family for making the exhibition possible by providing material from their collection.
 
Travel generously sponsored by EL AL Airlines.
Jewish Week is the media partner.
Project Mah Jongg
Extended through February 27, 2011
www.projectmahjongg.com
 
Since the 1920s, the game of mah jongg has ignited the popular imagination with its beautiful tiles, mythical origins, and communal spirit. Come learn the history and meaning of the beloved game that became a Jewish-American tradition.
 
This exhibition is made possible through the generosity of the National Mah Jongg League. Additional support provided by Sylvia Kay Hassenfeld and the 2wice Arts Foundation. Exhibit design by Abbott Miller, Pentagram.
 
New York magazine is the media partner.
 
 
The Morgenthaus: A Legacy of Service
Extended through September 5, 2011
www.mjhnyc.org/morgenthaus

The Morgenthaus have embraced the promise of America since their arrival in 1866. Wanting to contribute to their country and their communities, they dedicated themselves to public service. The exhibition tells the story of three generations of this family, and explores the fascinating ways in which their service to others changed the course of world events, American politics, and Jewish history. 
 
This exhibition is made possible through generous funding from The Isenberg Family Charitable Trust, Marina and Stephen E. Kaufman, Lois and Martin Whitman, Jack Rudin, and New York State Senator Eric T. Schneiderman. Media sponsorship is generously provided by Manhattan Media.
 
Keeping History Center
Now on View
www.mjhnyc.org/khc
 
Link history with the present using the latest technology in this award-winning installation. While enjoying breathtaking views of New York Harbor, explore Voices of Liberty, a digital soundscape composed of stories about arriving on American shores or seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time. Come add your story, too. Investigate the intersection of art, memory, and time with Timekeeper, a virtual exploration of Andy Goldsworthy’s stunning memorial Garden of Stones.
 
The Center is designed by the award-winning firms C&G Design and Potion.
 
The Center, dedicated by Morton Pickman in memory of Morris and Fannie Pickman, is made possible by a generous grant from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; with additional support from New York State Senator Eric T. Schneiderman.
 
Garden of Stones
On permanent display
 
Andy Goldsworthy’s only permanent installation in New York City, Garden of Stones is a contemplative space dedicated to the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust and honors those who survived. There is no charge to visit the garden, which is open during regular Museum hours.
 
Each of the 18 boulders in the Garden of Stones holds a growing dwarf oak evoking not only the adversity and struggle endured by those who experienced the Holocaust, but also the tenacity and fragility of life. Survivors and their families helped the artist plant the garden in September 2003. More than seven years later, the living memorial garden continues to inspire in new ways.
 
 
Reflection Passage
On permanent display
 
MacArthur Fellow and architectural artist James Carpenter’s site-specific installation captures New York Harbor’s ephemeral qualities of light and water and re-presents them inside a main passageway of the waterfront Museum, creating a shimmering and ever-changing reflection.
 
The external events of the harbor displayed within the Museum environment are seen as a “mirroring of reality,” capturing the daily seasonal light and weather cycles. Andy Goldsworthy’s Garden of Stones sits one level below the Carpenter installation, and like the garden, Reflection Passage relies upon changes in the natural world to complete the artistic process. 
 
Reflection Passage is the Gift of The Gruss Lipper Foundation.
 
General Information
 
TICKETS
To purchase tickets to public programs call (646) 437-4202, or visit our website at www.mjhnyc.org, or visit the Museum in Lower Manhattan. 
 
Museum Hours
Sunday through Tuesday, Thursday 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.
Wednesday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (DST)
Friday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (EST)
The Museum is closed on Saturday and major Jewish holidays
 
MUSEUM ADMISSION
General Museum admission is $12 for adults, $10 for seniors, and $7 for students. Members and children 12 and younger are admitted free. 
Museum admission is free on Wednesday evenings between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Note: Tickets to public programs do not include Museum admission.  Public programs may require a separate fee.

The Museum receives general operating support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and is a founding member of the Museums of Lower Manhattan.