Mary Platt
Chapman University’s Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education has announced its fall series of events, all free and open to the public. Some of the spotlight events this fall will revolve around the issue of looted art and cultural heritage, focusing on the dramatic story of the recovery of the famous Klimt painting “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I,” popularly known as the “Woman in Gold,” confiscated by the Nazis during World War II, and its return to the Jewish family who owned it. The feature film “Woman in Gold” will kick off the series on September 10, followed by a faculty panel discussion on looted art on October 13. On the evening of October 13, the real-life lawyer who litigated in the U.S. and Austria for the return of the Klimt painting to its rightful owners, E. Randol Schoenberg, will appear in person to talk about the dramatic recovery of the painting and five other Klimt works for the Altmann family.
Thursday, September 10 at 7 p.m. – Film Screening: “Woman in Gold”–Memorial Hall. Free admission.
The film “Woman in Gold” is a remarkable story of one woman’s journey to reclaim her heritage and seek justice for what happened to her family. Sixty years after she fled Vienna during WWII, an elderly Jewish woman, Maria Altmann (Helen Mirren) starts her quest to retrieve family possessions seized by the Nazis, among them Gustav Klimt’s famous painting “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I.” Together with her inexperienced but plucky young lawyer (Ryan Reynolds), she embarks upon a major legal battle which takes them all the way to the heart of the Austrian establishment and to the U.S. Supreme Court. The film will be introduced by Marilyn Harran, Ph.D., Stern Chair in Holocaust Studies at Chapman University and director of the Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education. CO-SPONSORED by the Rodgers Center; the Departments of Art, History and Religious Studies in Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; the Fish Interfaith Center; and Civic Engagement Initiatives.
Thursday, October 1 at 7 p.m. – Film Screening: “The Legacy of Heart Mountain”– Memorial Hall. Free admission.
During World War II, thousands of Japanese Americans were interned in the Heart Mountain camp near Cody, Wyoming, as well as in other camps throughout the west. The only crime of these American citizens was being Japanese American at a time when the U.S. was at war with Japan in the Pacific. Eight out of 10 of those interned at Heart Mountain were from Los Angeles. This film features remarkable photographs of daily life inside the camp, shot by a young internee and his father, along with the voices of many of those who experienced life behind the barbed wire of Heart Mountain. A panel discussion will follow the screening, featuring David Ono, producer and writer and well-known ABC News anchor; Jeff McIntyre, director and cameraman; Toshi Ito, Heart Mountain internee and Chapman University alumna; and Patti Hirahara, daughter and granddaughter of the Heart Mountain internee-photographers whose works appear in the film. CO-SPONSORED by the Rodgers Center; the Departments of Sociology and History in Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; and Dodge College of Film and Media Arts.
Thursday, October 8 at 7 p.m. – Lecture: “Genocide by Attrition: The Nuba Mountains, Sudan”– Speaker: Samuel Totten, Ph.D.
Bush Conference Center, Beckman Hall 404. Free admission.
Dr. Samuel Totten is the author of “Teaching and Studying the Holocaust” and “Centuries of Genocide: Critical Essays and Eyewitness Accounts.” CO-SPONSORED by the Rodgers Center; the College of Educational Studies; Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; and the Freshman Foundation Program.
Tuesday, October 13 at 3 p.m. – Panel Discussion: “Looted Art: Stealing Cultural Heritage”
Argyros Forum 209. Free admission.
Chapman faculty members from the fields of art history, history, religious studies and law discuss the issues of looted artistic and cultural heritages. The panel will be moderated by Jennifer Keene, Ph.D., professor of history, and there will be special comments by Richard Hovannisian, Ph.D., Chancellor Fellow at Chapman University and professor emeritus of history at UCLA. CO-SPONSORED by the Rodgers Center; the Departments of Art, History and Religious Studies in Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; and the Dale E. Fowler School of Law.
Presenters will include:
- Michael Bazyler, Ph.D., professor of law and 1939 Society Scholar in Human Rights Studies at Chapman University’s Dale E. Fowler School of Law: “From the ‘Woman in Gold’ to the Manuscripts in Gold: The Precedent of Holocaust Litigation”
- Julye Bidmead, Ph.D., associate professor in the department of religious studies: “Collecting Artifacts: The Illicit Antiquities Market in Israel”
- Wendy Salmond, Ph.D., professor of art history: “”Nationalization or Looting: Responses to the Bolshevik Confiscation of Art Between the Wars”
- Justin Walsh, Ph.D., associate professor of art history: “Antiquities, Looting and Warfare from WWII to Syria”
Tuesday, October 13 at 7 p.m. – Lecture: “Stolen by the Nazis: Recovering the ‘Woman in Gold’ and Other Paintings”
Wallace All Faiths Chapel, Fish Interfaith Center. Free admission.
Speaker: E. Randol Schoenberg, of-counsel and co-founding partner, Burris, Schoenberg & Walden LLP and president, Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust
Portrayed by Ryan Reynolds in the film “Woman in Gold,” E. Randol Schoenberg is the indefatigable attorney who waged an eight-year battle on behalf of Maria Altmann in her quest to regain six paintings by Gustav Klimt that had once belonged to her family but were taken by the Nazis. In a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, Schoenberg won the right for his client to sue the Government of Austria for the return of the paintings. Subsequently, the six paintings, valued at more than $325 million, were returned to Altmann and other family members. The portrait of Altmann’s aunt, “Adele Bloch-Bauer I,” now occupies a place of honor in the Neue Galerie museum in New York City. Schoenberg is the grandson of renowned Austrian composers Arnold Schoenberg and Eric Zeisl, and has been honored as California Attorney of the Year for his litigation skills. He serves as president of the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. Sponsored by The John and Toby Martz Distinguished Lecture in Holocaust Studies. CO-SPONSORED by the Rodgers Center; the Departments of Art, History and Religious Studies in Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; and the Dale E. Fowler School of Law.
Tuesday, October 27 at 4 p.m. – Lecture: “To Capture the Fire: The Life and Works of Elie Wiesel”
Speaker: Alan Rosen, Ph.D.
Bush Conference Center, Beckman Hall 404. Free admission.
In this lecture, Dr. Alan Rosen, who has written extensively on the life and writing of Elie Wiesel, explores a theme central to many of the Nobel Peace laureate’s works: that of becoming a “soul on fire.” Drawing upon Chasidic tradition and masters, Professor Wiesel counters the enveloping fire of the Holocaust with the visionary fire of the Jewish tradition. Dr. Rosen will discuss how capturing this metaphorical fire becomes a means of transforming the evil of the Holocaust – and in the end, transforming our world as well. Dr. Rosen’s most recent book is “Elie Wiesel: Jewish, Literary and Moral Perspectives,” co-edited with Steven T. Katz.
Tuesday, November 3 at 7 p.m. – Lecture: “Rwanda’s Stories of Healing and Hope 21 Years After Genocide”
Speaker: Carl Wilkens
Bush Conference Center, Beckman Hall 404. Free admission.
Carl Wilkens is the former head of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency International in Rwanda. In 1994, he was the only American who chose to remain in the country after the genocide began, for humanitarian reasons. He is the author of “I’m Not Leaving: Rwanda Through the Eyes of the Only American to Stay,” his own story of the dramatic results of his decision. He is currently director of the humanitarian organization World Outside My Shoes. CO-SPONSORED by the Rodgers Center; the College of Educational Studies; Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; and the Freshman Foundations Program.
Tuesday, November 10 at 7 p.m. – Interfaith Service of Remembrance for Kristallnacht
Wallace All Faiths Chapel, Fish Interfaith Center. Free admission.
Remembering and commemorating the “night of broken glass,” or Kristallnacht – the night of November 9-19, 1938, when waves of violent anti-Jewish pogroms swept through Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland, destroying 267 synagogues and more than 7,500 Jewish-owned businesses, killing 91 people and arresting thousands more. Speakers include Dr. Bernd Fischer, Chancellor Fellow at Chapman University and former consul general of the Federal Republic of Germany in Los Angeles. The evening will honor Holocaust survivor and rescuer Curt Lowens, a witness to Kristallnacht, on his 90th birthday. Sponsored by The Jerry and Sally Schwartz Holocaust Education Fund. CO-SPONSORED by the Rodgers Center, Fish Interfaith Center, Hillel and the Chapman Interfaith Council.
The Rodgers Center gratefully acknowledges the sponsors of this series: The 1939 Society, The Joyce and Saul Brandman Foundation, The John and Toby Martz Distinguished Lecture in Holocaust Studies, The Jerry and Sally Schwartz Holocaust Education Fund, and the supporting annual members of the Rodgers Center.
Add comment