1998 Programs

Fall 1998

Thursday, September 17, 1998

Michael Wise, journalist, author
Capital Dilemma: Germany's Search for a New Architecture of Democracy. (Princeton Architectural Press, 1998).

As Berlin is in the process of being recreated as the new capital of Germany, it has fostered an animated debate within Germany over the uses of public space and the manipulation of public memory. The controversy, as journalist Joe Joffe of the Süddeutsche Zeitung said, is between "the politics of architecture and the architecture of politics", a connection that has surfaced before in Germany. Michael Wise will speak about the many factors involved in rebuilding Germany's historic capital, including the divergent opinions on the creation of a Holocaust memorial. Mr. Wise uses the "Capital Dilemma" over Berlin as a lens for examining Germany's relationship to its past, as well as its hope for the future.

Wednesday, October 21, 1998

Professor Peter Gay, LBI Trustee, historian, professor, author
Director, Center for Scholars and Writers, New York Public Library
My German Question: Growing up in Nazi Germany (Yale University Press, 1998).

During his years of teaching at both Columbia and Yale Universities, cultural historian Peter Gay was able to write an enormously impressive number of outstanding books, with subjects ranging from Freud to Mondrian, from Weimar Culture to Victorian England, from Colonial America to the French Enlightenment. In this just published volume, Professor Gay turns his academic objectivity inward and becomes an observer of his own personal past. As a historian who has turned biographer in order to write his memoirs, Professor Gay's perspective on Nazi Germany in the 1930s is in many ways especially meaningful. The LBI is proud to present this lecture.

Monday, November 2, 1998

Exhibit at the Leo Baeck Institute, 129 E. 73rd. Street
Kristallnacht in Context: What Are We Remembering?
Original Artwork by Daniel Bennett Schwartz
Catalogue Essay by Ruth Gay

Sixty years after the most terrible night in modern Jewish history, the Leo Baeck Institute will mount an exhibit to commemorate the survival -- rather than the destruction -- of German Jewish heritage and culture. Even as we continue to mourn the loss of our loved ones on that night and in those years, it is important to remember that many of our most precious achievements did not go up in flames; our contributions to the religious, social, artistic and intellectual life of the 20th century continue unabated. "What Are We Remembering" becomes the critical distinction in this context: are we remembering life or are we remembering death? The exhibit reminds us that we must do both. In a series of paintings, water colors and collages, the Institute will show the works of the well-known American-born artist and illustrator Daniel Bennett Schwartz. These pieces were commissioned by the Simon Wiesenthal Center in 1980 for its award-winning documentary "Genocide." Some of the pieces were used in the film, but most have never been shown publicly, and never in their entirety. This exhibit marks the first complete exhibit of Mr. Schwartz's Genocide series.

Sunday, November 8, 1998

Kristallnacht Commemoration at the 92nd Street Y.

The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation together with the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, in cooperation with the Leo Baeck Institute, Congregation Habonim, The Hebrew Tabernacle of Washington Heights, The Federation of Jews from Central Europe, the New York Board of Rabbis, and the Museum of Jewish Heritage, will cosponsor a city-wide event to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Kristallnacht. The event will feature Rabbi Richter, the last Rabbi in Mannheim before the destruction of the Synagogue, Cantor Erwin Hirsch, Mannheim's last Cantor, and Mr. Rudy Appel, Mannheim's final Bar Mitzvot, in a moving commemoration that highlights the resilience of our people.

Wednesday, November 18, 1998

4th Annual Leo Baeck Gala Dinner
Harmonie Club, New York City -- by reservation only

Professor George Mosse, distinguished historian and author, lecturer and mentor to a generation of scholars, many of whom went on to their own brilliant careers in European history, will be honored as the Recipient of the Leo Baeck Medal. Professor Mosse was one of the first modern theorists to offer strikingly original re- evaluations of traditional notions of racism, fascism, and nationalism and how they helped shape "the Final Solution". The LBI is honored to use the occasion of the 4th Annual Dinner to recognize the many contributions of our dear friend and generous benefactor, George Mosse. Professor Saul Friedländer, Professor of History at Tel Aviv University and UCLA, will be the Featured Speaker at the Dinner. Professor Friedländer has been called the most highly regarded Holocaust historian in the world today. His most recent book, Nazi Germany and the Jews (Volume 1), has received brilliant reviews. His great friend George Mosse said it is "riveting in its narrative, analysis, and details." The friendship between Professors Friedländer and Mosse goes back thirty years, as does their friendship with the LBI. It is an honor to host two such major scholars, whose thoughtful and sophisticated analyses have contributed so much to modern history.

Wednesday, December 2, 1998

The 42nd Annual Leo Baeck Memorial Lecture
Professor Hans Mommsen, University of Bochum
The Legacy of the Holocaust and the German National Identity.

The foremost contemporary German historian of National Socialism, Professor Mommsen is the author of many publications related to 20th century Central European history. His works include From Weimar to Auschwitz (1991), a controversial history of the Volkswagen Corporation and its wartime activities (1996), and a newly revised edition of the History of the Weimar Republic (1998). Professor Mommsen's twin brother Wolfgang was until recently the director of the German Historical Institute in London. The brothers come from a long line of historians, probably the most famous of whom was grandfather Theodor, well known as the antagonist of reactionary German historian Heinrich von Treitschke.

The Leo Baeck Memorial Lecture is traditionally given by an outstanding intellectual historian; the illustrious scholarship of Hans Mommsen puts him squarely in this tradition. Professor Mommsen's talk will be published as the 42nd paper in this series.