Tag Archives: World War II

Holocaust, Levine ADR articles

UNTOLD Stories of a World War II Liberator

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American Diversity ReportAward-winning Documentary

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As antisemitism and Holocaust denial grow world-wide, it’s vital to hear these first-hand 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

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 by Jewish Life TV. 

It’s a Winner in 12 International film festivals: 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.

Take advantage of this link to see the documentary on Youtube today and make plans to share it widely.

CLICK for UNTOLD, Stories  of a WW II LIBERATOR

Director:  Dennis Parker.
Narrator: Deborah Levine, author.
Actors/Readers:
Aaron Levine is played by actor/director/producer Dylan Kussman
Estelle Levine by Charlene Hong White
Aunt Polly by Trish Ross
Leon Weisband by Joel Scribner
Secretary of State Cordell Hull by Greg Glover
Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter by George Hoctor
Reporter by Chase Parker (no relation)
Music by Aaron’s nephew, Hollywood composer Michael Levine

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.

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Flashback: On the Brink of War 1940 – by US Secretary of State, Cordell Hull

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Editor’s Note: Among my father’s papers was the full 1940 commencement address at Harvard University by then Secretary of State, Tennessean Cordell Hull. His words and passion for the American heart and soul on the brink of war still resonate today. (Excerpts)

There are at work in the world today powerful forces the significance of which no individual an don nation can ignore without jeopardy. They rose on many occasions in the past and, for varying periods and with varying intensity, held sway over human affairs. They spring today from the source from which they have always sprung in the past – from godless and souls lust for power which seeks to hold men in physical slavery and spirit degradation and to display a system of peaceful and orderly relations among nations by the anarchy of wanton violence and brute force.

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Holocaust, Levine ADR articles, Social Issues

Sharing the Letters of a WW II Liberator – by Deborah Levine

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It 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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