13 May
Arts & Culture, Latest, Zoominars

Jan Karski: Witness to the Holocaust with David Strathairn, Derek Goldman and Amy E. Schwartz

Actor David Strathairn, nominated for an Academy Award for his role as journalist Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck, has dedicated himself to portraying great men. He’s currently performing as Jan Karski, the World War II hero who risked his life to carry his harrowing eye-witness report about the Holocaust from war-torn Poland to the Allied Nations and, ultimately, the White House, only to be ignored and disbelieved. Strathairn is in conversation with playwright Derek Goldman and Moment’s books and opinion editor Amy E. Schwartz about the play, Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski and why this courageous man’s story may be more relevant than ever.

This program is part of the Moment Theater Festival.

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26 Apr
History, Latest, Zoominars

Letters from the Lingerie Drawer: A Daughter’s Journey with Eleanor Reissa and Yehuda Hyman

What if you could suddenly see your parents’ lives before you were born? And they were Holocaust survivors, who had suffered greatly but still somehow found each other. This is what happened to Tony nominated director and Broadway/television actor Eleanor Reissa when her mother passed away, leaving behind 56 letters she’d received from Reissa’s father in the years after he survived a death march. It took Reissa 30 years to have them translated from German and discover her parents’ story. She discusses what she learned and her recently released memoir, The Letters Project: A Daughter’s Journey, in conversation with playwright and artistic director Yehuda Hyman. Reissa also reads several selections from her book.

This program is in commemoration of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day.

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Oh I Remember the Black Birch playwright Velina Hasu Houston
09 Nov
Arts & Culture, Latest, Zoominars

Oh, I Remember the Black Birch: Play Reading and Talkback w/ Velina Hasu Houston & Keren M. Goldberg

This program is part of the 2021 Moment Theater Festival.

In the Autumn of 1941, 18-year-old Brina Berman, a Jewish Polish young woman from Warsaw, finds herself alone in Kobe, Japan, having traveled halfway across the world following the Nazi invasion of her hometown and murder of her family. Thus unfolds a little-known true story of what happened to Jewish refugees when Japanese Diplomat Chiune Sugihara was stationed in Kovno, Lithuania and wrote transit visas to Japan, saving thousands of Jews who were running from the advancing German army. Seen through her many struggles in Kobe, Brina is surprised to find an established Jewish community and nurturing Japanese residents and organizations working to support the arriving Jewish refugees.

The cast, director, and playwright of Oh, I Remember the Black Birch discuss their new original play about a young Jewish woman struggling in a new country and finding community during the Holocaust. Playwright Velina Hasu Houston is also in conversation with producer and dramaturg Keren M. Goldberg about the journey of Oh, I Remember the Black Birch which is inspired by true events.

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14 Sep
Latest, Zoominars

A Secret Identity with Daniela Gerson and Robert Siegel

Nazi hunter and international lawyer Allan Gerson, who represented victim’s families after the Lockerbie bombing, didn’t know his real name until he was 12 years old. Born at the end of World War II, Allan and his family, out of desperation, eventually entered the United States under assumed names. Daniela Gerson, assistant professor of journalism at California State University, Northridge, discusses her father’s book Lies that Matter and what it was like learning about her family’s past secrets. Daniela is in conversation with Robert Siegel, Moment special literary contributor and former senior host of NPR’s All Things Considered.

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29 Jul
Latest, Moment Magazine-Karma Foundation Short Fiction

Moment Magazine-Karma Foundation Short Fiction Contest: Why We Still Write Holocaust Fiction

Moment Magazine-Karma Foundation Short Fiction Contest presents:

Authors Ruby Namdar (The Ruined House), Ruth Franklin (A Thousand Darknesses: Lies and Truth in Holocaust Fiction) and Moment editor-in-chief Nadine Epstein (Elie Wiesel: An Extraordinary Life) discuss the enduring power–and perils–of Holocaust fiction.

Prior to the conversation, the 2020 Karma Foundation Short Fiction Contest winners read excerpts from their stories:

1st place – Omer Friedlander, The Man Who Sold Air in the Holy Land

2nd place – Linda Brettler, Private

3rd place – Rona Arato, Polonaise

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