GERMAN-JEWISH EMIGRANT TO KEYNOTE SYMPOSIUM APRIL 6-9
"Jewish Culture - Western Civilization - And Beyond" is the theme for Old Dominion University's Fifth Annual International Symposium April 6-9.
The symposium will feature a sweeping, four-day multifaceted mosaic in which more than 40 scholars and writers from the United States and Europe will represent and reflect on the many contributions Jewish culture has made to Western civilization, ranging from Ancient Babylon to modern Hollywood. Guy Stern of Wayne State University will deliver the keynote address, "Growing Up Jewish in Weimar Germany: A Personal Kaleidoscope," at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, April 7, at Temple Ohef Sholom, 530 Raleigh Ave., Norfolk.
A former American intelligence officer who was part of the invasion of Normandy and was instrumental in identifying and interrogating several war criminals, Stern lost all his family in the Holocaust. He became an American professor of German literature and dedicated himself to the daunting task of reconnecting with post-World War II Germany.
Other presentations of note include:
· Saturday, April 6 - a screening of the film, "The Nasty Girl," at 8 p.m. in the Mills Godwin Jr. Life Sciences Building. Anna Rosmus, the real-life German model for the film, will be in attendance.
· Sunday, April 7 - a reading of "The Tattooed Man Tells All" by Peter Wortman, son of Austrian Jewish refugees, and scholar and author of this concentration camp drama, at 9 a.m. in Room 104 of the Batten Arts and Letters Building.
· Monday, April 8 - "Bearing Witness: Surviving the Holocaust," testimonials from Kitty Saks and David Katz, two Holocaust survivors representing the Holocaust Commission of the Jewish Federation of Tidewater, at 3 p.m. in Room 921 of the Batten Arts and Letters Building.
· Monday, April 8 - a musical performance by The Frailache Klezmer Band at 8 p.m. in the south cafeteria of Webb University Center.
Organized by the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures with sponsorship from the Tidewater Jewish Foundation Inc., the symposium is free and open to the public.
For a more information call 683-3973 or visit the Web site http://www.odu.edu/al/lang.
The schedule of events is as follows:
Saturday, April 6, 2002 (Unless noted all events Saturday are in 921 Batten Arts & Letters Building)
2:30-3 p.m.
Coffee and pastries with welcoming remarks from Frederick A. Lubich, Professor of German and Chair of Foreign Languages and Literatures
3-4:15 p.m.
"All is Race: Jews and Gentlemen in Disraeli's Young England Trilogy." Presented by Russell Schweller, Wake Forest University
"Hugo von Hofmannsthal's 'Fairy Tale of the 672th Night': A Tale of Failed Jewish Assimilation." Presented by Imke Meyer, Bryn Mawr College
"The Jew as Chameleon in Der ewige Jude and Europa, Europa." Presented by Kathryn Bower, University of Richmond
4:30-5:45 p.m.
"Don't Burn What You Don't Understand! How a Christian Scholar Helped Save the Talmud and Other Hebrew Books from the Flames of the Inquisition." Presented by Peter Wortman, New York
"The Spanish Dimension in German Jewish Historical Fiction - Collective Autobiographies for a Modern Identity." Presented by Florian Kropp, National University of Ireland
"Inscribing Jewish Diaspora into the Spanish Civil War and Spanish Postmodernity: Antonio Munoz Molina's Sefarad." Presented by Richard Sperber, Carthage College
8-10 p.m.
Screening of The Nasty Girl, 102 Mills Godwin Jr. Life Sciences Building
Sunday, April 7, 2002 (Unless noted, all morning events will be held in 104 Batten Arts & Letters Building, and afternoon events will be at Temple Ohef Sholom, 530 Raleigh Ave., Norfolk)
8:45-9 a.m.
Welcoming remarks from Janet Katz, acting dean of the College of Arts and Letters, and Peter Schulman, assistant professor of French
9-10:30 a.m.
"Erich Mühsam and the 'Godforsaken Border Town of Passau.'" Presented by Anna Rosmus, Washington, DC
The Tattooed Man Tells All. Peter Wortman's reading from his original stage play.
10:45 a.m.-Noon
"Parallels Between 1984 and the Tower of Babylon." Presented by Rabbi Sander Haber, Norfolk Community Kollel
"From the Arizal to Madonna - The Kabbalah Mystique." Presented by Rabbi Aryeh Gibber, Norfolk Community Kollel
"Kabbalah Through the Lens of Chassidic Philosophy." Presented by Rabbi Aaron Margolin. Chabad Lubavitch, Virginia Beach
Noon-1:30 p.m.
Luncheon at the Kosher Place, Ghent (738 W. 22nd St., Norfolk)
1:30-2 p.m.
"Ghosts, Revenants, and Spirits: Medieval Jewish Tales of the Supernatural." Presented by Rabbi Michael Panitz, Temple Israel, Norfolk
2:15-3:30 pm
"Sartre and the Jews: The Jew as the Other; The Jew as the Self." Presented by Rachel Morea Luna, Norfolk State University
"Seeing God in Judaism." Presented by Laurence Kutler, Norfolk, Hebrew Academy
"Orthodoxy in the Professional World." Presented by Phil Schwartz, Virginia Wesleyan College/Hebrew Academy of Tidewater
3:45-5 p.m.
"Humor as Provocation in Two Post-War Jewish Novels: Roth's Portnoy's Complaint and Becker's Jakob the Liar." Presented by Josh Kavaloski, University of Virginia and Castrop Rauxel, Germany
"What's so Funny about Being Jewish?" Presented by Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz, Norfolk Community Kollel
"The Philosophy of Dialogical Laughter: Bergson, Tabori, Brooks, and the Unmasterable Past." Presented by Norman Roessler, Temple University
5-5:30 p.m. Coffee Break
5:30-6:30 p.m.
Keynote Address: "Growing Up Jewish in Weimar Germany: A Personal Kaleidoscope." Presented by Guy Stern, Wayne State University
7-9 p.m.
Screening of You, Me, Jerusalem, 102 Mills Godwin Jr. Life Sciences Building
8-10 p.m.
Kosher dinner at the Norfolk Waterside Marriott
Monday, April 8, 2002 (Unless noted, all events will be in 921 Batten Arts & Letters Building)
9-10:15 a.m.
"'Wir gehören eben an unseren Schreibtisch': Troublesome Geographics of a Jewish-German Existence." Presented by Reika Ebert, Murray State University
"Anti-Semitism in the GDR? A Comparison of Jan Koplowitz's novel Bohemia, mein Schicksal (1979) and Horst Seemann's film Hotel Polan und sein Gäste (1981). Presented by Gabriele Eckart, Southeast Missouri State University
"Ignatz Bubis and the Calumny of Right-Wing Publisher Peter Dehoust." Presented by Manuela Michl, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany
10:30-11:45 a.m.
"Emerging from A Cracked Chrysalis: Hilda Stern Cohn's Adolescent Holocaust Poetry." Presented by Marilya Veteto, Northern Arizona University
"Tohu-Bohus and Yizkor: Rimbaud, Celan and the (Mis)Uses of Hebrew." Presented by Beth Hawkins, DePauw University
"Bachmann and Celan: The Smiling Sphinx and the Holocaust." Presented by Peter Beicken, University of Maryland
12-1:30 p.m.
Luncheon, Webb University Center, Potomac/York River Rooms
1:30-2:45 p.m.
"Jewish Cowboys and Cowgirls Take Flight." Presented by Eleanor Kaufman, University of Virginia
"The Forgotten Voice of Henri Franck." Simon Sibelman, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh
"Barbara Honigmann's Oeuvre: Constructing Home in the Diaspora." Presented by Diane Orendi, Cleveland State University
3-4:15 p.m. Bearing Witness: Surviving the Holocaust
"Surviving the Holocaust as a Boy in France." Presented by David Katz, Holocaust Commission of the Jewish Federation of Tidewater
"Surviving the Holocaust as a Girl in Various Convents and Orphanages in Belgium." Kitty Saks, Holocaust Commission of the Jewish Federation of Tidewater
4:15-4:45 p.m. Coffee Break
4-7 p.m.
Screening of Life is Beautiful, 102 Mills Godwin Jr. Life Sciences Building
4:45-6 p.m.
"The Holocaust: Source of a Unique Aesthetics, Georges Perec - A Jewish Tragedy Lived in a Special Way." Presented by Anca Porumb, Babes-Bolyai University, Romania
"Jewish Exile in India." Presented by Kausi Krishnamoorthy, Wayne State University
"A Return to Germany as an American-Jewish Guest Professor." Presented by Guy Stern, Wayne State University
8-9 p.m.
The Frailache Klezmer Band music performance, Webb University Center, South Cafeteria
Tuesday, April 9, 2002 (Unless noted, all events will be in 104 Batten Arts & Letters Building)
9-10:15 a.m.
"Sephardic Wedding Customs." Presented by Ingrid Edery, Old Dominion University
"The Multicultural Golden Age of Spain." Presented by Helen Sonenshine, Virginia Beach
"Convivencia, Conversos and Conflict in Medieval Seville." Presented by Rowena Hernández Múzquiz, Virginia Beach
10:30-11:45 a.m.
"Contemporary Jewish Life in Spain." Presented by David Edery, Norfolk
"Just another 'Other': Jewish Writers in Cosmopolitan Trieste." Presented by Maura Hametz, Old Dominion University
"All is (Not) Race: Edward Steiner's Journey from Alien to Citizen." Presented by Joseph Cosco, Old Dominion University
Noon-1:30 p.m. Lunch Break
1:30-2:45 p.m.
"Cantillation and Consciousness." Presented by David Metzger, Old Dominion University
"The Difficulties of Using English and Hebrew Online." Presented by Carl Withaus, Old Dominion University
"Accommodation of the Other: Arab and Jews in Film." Presented by Fran Hassencahl, Old Dominion University
3-3:30 p.m.
"Klezmer Revival in Contemporary Germany." A multimedia presentation by Frederick A. Lubich, Old Dominion University