Tag Archives: Holocaust

Documentary, Holocaust, Levine ADR articles

UNTOLD Stories of a World War II Liberator

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EDUCATION TOOL &
AWARD-WINNING
DOCUMENTARY 

(scroll down for links)

Holocaust education is a vital element to counteracting the  antisemitism and Holocaust denial as they grow world-wide. Educators and students, community leaders and activists should  hear the first-hand Untold stories of WW II and the Holocaust. Deborah Levine, daughter of a World War II military intelligence officer, has created this documentary as a tool for counteracting hate and for Holocaust education. Her father, Aaron Levine was a ” Ritchie Boy” trained at Fort Ritchie, the U.S. secret military intelligence camp focused on training men, often Jewish immigrants who spoke German, to interrogate Nazi prisoners of war.

Hear the wartime perspective of Aaron Levine as he liberated death camps, served as a spy, and wrote letters about his experience. Be inspired by the love letters of Estelle Swig Malloy, a Special Education pioneer whom Aaron married after they graduated from Harvard. Then hear the memoirs of Polish Holocaust Survivor, Leon Weisband who documented the Nazi invasion of his hometown.

“No student of history can come away from this without a deeper understanding of the sacrifices that were made to end the Holocaust and of the power of storytelling to heal the human heart.”
~ Dylan Kussman, Hollywood actor/producer

“Deborah Levine’s work continues to be of utmost importance for students of all ages. The specific story of ‘UNTOLD’ MUST be told today and forever, so that the words ‘Never Again’ never lose their meaning!”
~Avi Hoffman, CEO Yiddishkayt Initiative, Inc.
“Many liberators such as Levine’s father kept their experience largely secret So this is an important resource for Holocaust education and research…and a very engaging introduction to the journey of the Jewish community over the past century”
~ The Rev. Dr. John T. Pawlikowski: Founding member of the US Holocaust Center, Prof of Social Ethics/Catholic Theological Union
Religion Communicators Council names Wilbur Merit Awards:
American Diversity Report and Untold, Stories of a World War II Liberator:
Deborah Levine , Dennis Parker , Michael A. Levine , @Dylan Kussman, Charlene White , Trish Ross , Joel D. Scribner , Greg Glover, @George Hoctor, Chase Parker.

 

From her roots in the only Jewish family to have lived in Bermuda for 4 generations, to her role as a Forbes Diversity & Inclusion Trailblazer, Deborah has been dedicated to “Tikkun olam”, Hebrew for “repair of the world”. This latest project is decades in the making, and is broadcast internationally by Jewish Life TV. 

“Untold” in its radio theater and documentary formats is a Winner in 16 International film festivals including: 1) Lily Indie Film Fest, 2) 4theatre selection, 3) NYC Independent Film Festival (11th season), 4) Red Moon Festival (8th season), 5) Spring Time International, 6) Bright International, 7)  Dreamz Catcher International, 8) Indie Cine Tube Awards, 9) Lightbox International, 10) Crown International, 11) Delta International, 12) EdiPlay International, 13) Red Wolf Film Festival, 14) Indiefare International Film Festival, 15) FlightDeck Film Festival, 16) Cine Sepia Reels Carnival.

Author: Deborah Levine
Director: Dennis Parker
Music Composer/Performer: Michael Levine
Actors: Dylan Kussman, Joel Scribner, Charlene Hong White, Trish Ross, Chase Parker, George Hoctor, Greg Glover.

CLICK to see documentary
UNTOLD, Stories  of a WW II LIBERATOR

 

CLICK for the Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga version of UNTOLD

Actors: Deborah Levine, Rabbi Craig Lewis, Rabbi Sam Rotenberg, Bea Lurie, Jed Meson, Dr. John Steinberg, Richard Zachary,

CLICK for TEACHING GUIDE:
Untold, Stories of a World War II Liberator

 

CLICK for the memoir series:
The Liberator’s Daughter

Holocaust, Levine ADR articles, Make a Difference, Religious Diversity, Social Issues

Reflections on the Holocaust — by Deborah Levine

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As my radio theater play, UNTOLD: Stories of a World War II Liberator, is in preparation for broadcast, I am reminded of the 1st time that I agreed to serve on the local Holocaust Remembrance Day Committee was painful, even after almost seventy years since the end of World War II.  I agreed to assist in promoting the event beyond our Jewish community and I agreed to participate in the reading of the names of the victims.  And I resigned myself to being an usher at the event, not my favorite thing.  What I didn’t bargain for was a seat on the stage when I offhandedly shared that I was helping in memory of my father who was a U. S. military intelligence officer during World War II.  Aaron Levine was an army translator of German and French.  And by the way, he was a liberator of a labor camp.

Continue reading Reflections on the Holocaust — by Deborah Levine →

Black-Jewish Dialogue

Black-Jewish Dialogue: February 2022

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History R Us!

Hear this very personal look at history from both an African-American and Jewish perspective. Don’t miss this amazing online discussion.
Scroll down for the link.  

Gr

KEN GRANDERSON

In 1992, Ken Granderson, a graduate of MIT, launched his first software development company Inner-City Software, Brains in the Hood. He was committed to closing the Digital Divide by creating technology products and solutions by & for people of African descent. For a decade, he introduced Boston’s communities of color to computers and the Internet, giving local organizations and Boston’s Black newspaper an online world-class presence. Moving back to New York City, he was born in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, his achievements in technical design, education, and empowerment are nationally and internationally impressive.  His website, BLACKFACTS, is an affiliate of the ADR. (CLICK to access)

DEBORAH LEVINE
Editor-in-Chief Deborah J. Levine

DEBORAH LEVINE

Deborah coordinated the 1990 National Workshop on Christian Jewish RelationsIn  and created her first Holocaust video in Rockford, Illinois, where she served as of the Jewish Federation’s  executive director . She went on to become the Community & Media Liaison of the Tulsa Jewish Federation shortly after the OK City bombing and is the former exec. director of Chattanooga’s Jewish Federation.  She carries on the work of her father who became the CFO of the American Jewish Archives. He served as a US military intelligence officer during World War II assigned to interrogate Nazi prisoners of war. CLICK for more information about her memoir, The Liberator’s Daughter, and to hear an interview with her father about his wartime experiences.

CLICK TO HEAR DIALOGUE

Dialogue Partners:
American Diversity Report,  Chattanooga News Chronicle, Mizpah Congregation, Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga, C.U.R.B. – Citizens Uprooting Racism in Bermuda.

Authors A-H, Social Issues

Attics, Old Photos and a Concentration Camp Song – by Pascal Derrien

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I have moved quite a lot in my life, especially in the first part of it, clocking one to three schools per year on average and as many caravans, mobile homes, flats or apartments until the age of 16. The good thing with this nomadic lifestyle is that it has forced me to be quite ruthless over the years in terms of keeping or discarding belongings.

We are now in the process of converting our attic into an adult bedroom in our family home with a view to get me a small desk for my musings and a walking wardrobe for my other half. This not a move but it almost feels like one.  To do that I have to get rid of quite a lot of bits and pieces that have been accumulated since our previous move 10 years ago or so.

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Authors I-Q, Holocaust, Social Issues

For International Holocaust Remembrance Day – Poem by Marilyn Kallet

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My Holocaust research started with SW Germany, where my relatives were rounded up. My great-aunt, Hedwig Schwarz, was the only Jew to escape deportation in Horb/Rexingen. She was handicapped before the Holocaust, fell off the transport car, and was rescued by a nameless person who took her to Marienhopital in Stuttgart, where the nuns cared for her. My sister, daughter and I visited the hospital to thank the current generation of sisters for taking care of Hedwig. They told us that Hedwig was the only Jew in the hospital, though there were some Resistance members; and they treated her with silence, because they thought that was the best medicine. Can you imagine!

Here’s a poem I wrote about echoes in Horb and a photo of Hedwig in her hospital bed, surrounded by photos of all the others who were taken. The poem was first published in Prism: An Interdisciplinary Journal for Holocaust Educators, and in Packing Light: New and Selected Poems, Black Widow Press. 2009.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Mezuzah
  In Memory, Hedwig Schwarz

In the doorpost of her house, a hollow
where the mezuzah used to hang.
I press my hand against the indentation,
my way of speaking to the past.

Touch the hollow where the mezuzah
used to hang.  In Horb, Nazis renamed her street
Hitlerstrasse.  My way of speaking to the past
is to listen, press the old men for answers.

1941, Jews were packed into Hitlerstrasse.
Now it’s a winding picture postcard road,
Jew-free, pleasant as it seemed
before Nazis pressed my family into Judenhausen.

I press my hand against the indentation.
Over Horb, a hundred doorposts echo, hollow.

Continue reading For International Holocaust Remembrance Day – Poem by Marilyn Kallet →

Books, Holocaust

Come Back for Me: Holocaust Novel – by Sharon Hart-Green

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Come Back for Me A Novel by Sharon Hart-GreenLoss, trauma, memory, and the impenetrable ties of family are the elements that weave together Sharon Hart-Green’s panoramic debut novel Come Back for Me (New Jewish Press). Set in the aftermath of World War II, it is a gripping story about the redemptive power of love and self-understanding.

Come Back for Me tells the story of two young Jewish characters; one is a Hungarian Holocaust survivor Artur Mandelkorn who is on a desperate quest to find his beloved sister, Manya, after they become separated during the war. Artur’s journey takes him to Israel where he falls in love with Fanny, a young woman who still bears the scars of her own tragic past in Germany.

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Authors A-H, Books, Holocaust, Social Issues

Broken on the Inside: The War Never Ended – by Simon Hammelburg

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HammelburgBroken on the inside – The War Never Ended by Dutch author and journalist Simon Hammelburg is based on 1200 interviews with Holocaust survivors and their children. The book reads like a novel but is based on facts, some of which have never been revealed before, disclosing insights of the psychological aftermath of survivors as well as the post-war generations and the traumas that are passed on for over six generations.

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Holocaust, Levine ADR articles, Social Issues

Holocaust Education with WW II Liberator Letters – by Deborah Levine

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The Liberator's DaughterIt took me decades to write my historical memoir, The Liberator’s Daughter. Sifting through my father’s letters and diaries from World War II was both hypnotic and repulsive. As an ambitious first generation born American, he progressed from the son of a shoe peddler to a Harvard scholar before becoming a US military intelligence officer deployed to England, France, Belgium, and Germany towards the end of the war. He gathered intelligence from the populations about Nazi troop movements and activities. Post-war, his role was to interrogate Nazi prisoners of war, determining who should be prosecuted.

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Authors A-H, Religious Diversity, Social Issues

Creating Cultural Tolerance, One Meal at a Time – by Elisabeth Falcone

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My daughter came home from Middle School where they were studying the Holocaust and asked me “Mommy, was grandpa a Nazi?” How do you answer such a question? Easy! I said “No”, because all of my life I had heard my parents rail against the Hitler regime. They sent my father to the Russian front and my mother to the basement for shelter from the Allied bombers attacking Berlin. But thirty years later, a fifth-grader in my French class, who was also learning about the Holocaust, asked me, “Why are the German people so awful?” Now the answer was not so easy, because the student unwittingly used a stereotype painting all present-day German people as Nazi criminals. Without going into the history of WWII, I briefly explained that not all Germans are awful, just like not all Americans are awful. Still, seeing an opportunity for a lesson, I taught the French words for “war and peace” (la guerre et la paix) and went on with class.

Continue reading Creating Cultural Tolerance, One Meal at a Time – by Elisabeth Falcone →