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Advance Preview forAuschwitz: Inside the Nazi State at the Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the HolocaustCommemorating the 60th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz
The first episode will premier on PBS on Wednesday, January 19 (check local listings for time), and air each succeeding Wednesday. “The Museum was proud to be a part of this important documentary, and we are pleased to have such a distinguished panel of experts joining us for the screening to provide us with their insights on Auschwitz,” said David Marwell, Director of The Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. “Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State discusses important themes that will resonate with an audience familiar with what happened at Auschwitz, and more important, will introduce these themes to those who are learning about them for the first time.” At the time Auschwitz was liberated on January 27, 1945, little was known about the site or what had happened there. In recent years since the fall of communism, significant primary resources have become available to scholars that reveal a detailed four-year history of the Nazi institution. Using this new information, this six-part series tells the story of Auschwitz and the more than one million people who had been sent there over a period of four years.
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The ultimate message of the series, according to its producers, is “unless we try to understand why people believed this was the right thing to do, we are helpless in the face of it happening again.” The distinguished panel of scholars leading the discussion following the panel includes Raul Hilberg, Robert Jay Lifton, and Harry Reicher. Raul Hilberg is professor emeritus of political science at the University of Vermont, where he taught courses on international relations, American foreign policy, and the Holocaust. The University has since created a department of Holocaust studies to honor Hilberg’s achievement and legacy in the field. He was appointed to the President's Commission on the Holocaust by President Jimmie Carter and to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. Robert Jay Lifton is visiting professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. For more than forty years he has confronted some of the most disturbing events of our times. Among his many books are The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide, and Superpower Syndrome: America's Apocalyptic Confrontation with the World. Professor Harry Reicher is the Director of International Affairs and Representative to the United Nations for Agudath Israel World Organization, working at the legal and diplomatic levels on promotion of human rights, particularly freedom of religion. He is currently teaching Law and the Holocaust at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, examining the Nazi philosophy of law; it’s cause and effect. The Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, located at 36 Battery Place in Battery Park City, uses a core exhibition of more than 2,000 historic photographs and 800 historical and cultural artifacts, as well as 24 original documentary films, to educate people of all ages and backgrounds about the broad tapestry of Jewish life over the past century—before, during, and after the Holocaust. In fall 2003, the Museum dedicated its 82,000-square-foot Robert M. Morgenthau Wing, which contains the state-of-the-art Edmond J. Safra Hall, Andy Goldsworthy’s Garden of Stones, catering hall, classrooms, and expanded gallery space for special exhibitions. The Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust is one of 15 cultural and historic attractions that make up the Museums of Lower Manhattan. For more information, visit www.mjhnyc.org or call (646) 437-4200.Contacts:Ari Geller or Abby R. Spilka, (646) 437-4339 and (646) 437-4333. E-mails: ageller@mjhnyc.org and aspilka@mjhnyc.org
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