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Anne Frank's 80th birthday to be remembered at SD Jewish Book Fair at Lawrence Family JCC
LA JOLLA, California (Press Release)— If Anne Frank had survived the Holocaust, she would have celebrated her birthday on June 12, 2009. In honor of Anne’s life, her literary work, and her contributions to the world, the 15th Annual San Diego Jewish Book Fair will be remembering her at a special program on Wed., Nov. 11, 2009; through three exhibitions throughout the entire La Jolla segment of the Book Fair (Nov. 5 – 12); with a special author presentation at Family Day on Nov. 8.
The centerpiece of the Anne Frank Commemoration will be authors Francine Prose and Stephen Smith in conversation about their works on Anne Frank and the Holocaust in general, on Wed., Nov. 11 at 7:30 p.m. at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center in La Jolla. Prose and Smith will remain after the presentation to sign books purchased at the San Diego Jewish Book Fair Book Store.
Novelist Francine Prose explores the literary nature of Anne’s diary in her latest book Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife. Prose examines The Diary of Anne Frank as a deliberate work of art as well as an historical record. Prose marvels at Frank’s skillfully natural narrative voice, her finely tuned dialogue, and her ability to turn living people into characters. Prose demonstrates that, besides delivering a book that would be a fascinating Holocaust story, Anne was also a precociously gifted writer.
In June 1942, Anne Frank’s now world-renowned 13th birthday present was a red-and-white checked diary. A few weeks later, Anne and her family went into hiding from the Nazis in an Amsterdam attic above her father’s former business. For the next two years, Anne crafted a memoir accounting the unfolding events of World War II, until the Gestapo raided her family’s hiding place in August 1944.
Anne Frank devoted the last days of her life to polishing a book that she hoped would have an impact on the world – and she obviously succeeded. Her home in Amsterdam is one of the most visited attractions in the Europe, and her book has been translated into more than 50 languages and has sold more than 25 million copies. Anne’s story is not only an account of how she suffered during the Holocaust, but it is also a coming-of-age story that has touched the hearts of people around the world. Francine Prose’s work tells the extraordinary story of Anne’s book that became a force in the world following her death – the legacy she had hoped to leave behind. Few works have been so influential for so long.
In addition to providing a close reading of Anne’s diary, Prose investigates the “afterlife” of the autobiography: the obstacles and criticism Otto Frank faced in publishing his daughter’s work; the controversies surrounding the film and live theater productions of the story; the claims of conspiracy theorists that the book was a fraud and the scientific evidence that proved them wrong, and the 1950’s social mores that turned the book into a story of adolescent angst and love. Prose is especially experienced to examine this work by an adolescent, as many of her novels, particularly 2008’s Gardengrove, deal with the anxieties, joys and traumas of life as a modern teenager.
Prose is appearing with Dr. Stephen D. Smith, the recently appointed director of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute, the organization Steven Spielberg created to record the stories of Holocaust survivors for future generations. Smith is a theologian by training and has a particular interest in the impact of the Holocaust on religious and philosophical thought and practice. He has written about the “trajectory of memory” – how survivor narratives and visual history have developed over time and influenced the understanding of the implications of the Holocaust.
Smith’s book Making Memory: Creating Britain’s First Holocaust Centre recounts his family’s personal story vis-à-vis the Holocaust. In 1981, Stephen and James Smith and their parents went on a family trip to Israel that changed their lives. They came to understand that Christianity began in the land of Israel, but they also came to believe that Christianity has removed itself from its Jewish origins. In fact, they soon realized that contemporary anti-Semitism is as Christian as it is evil.
Ten years later, the brothers visited Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. The day spent there led them to recognize that the Holocaust has implications for all of humanity, not only Jews. They also recognized that, because the Nazis had never invaded Britain, British citizens had been able to avoid facing the reality of the Holocaust. Stephen and James resolved that they would create a Holocaust exhibition in the small non-denominational Christian conference center that their parents managed in the Nottinghamshire countryside.
In only four years time, what started as a few rooms devoted to telling the story of the Holocaust became the first Holocaust Centre in the United Kingdom. Established in 1995, Beth Shalom (house of peace) soon became a place of education, a place of memory, a place of testimony, a place of art, a place of academia, and much more. The Smiths’ message is that we must learn not only about what happened, but that we must also learn from what happened. In this way, we will honor the memory of the wasted lives of the victims of the Holocaust.
In addition, in honor of Anne Frank’s birthday, there will be three exhibits for Book Fair guests of all ages to explore. First, Inside Anne Frank’s House returns to the SDJBF after traveling all over the nation for the past few years. Made possible by a grant from Sempra Energy and the support of Dr. Andrew and Erna Viterbi, this interactive exhibition gives visitors an opportunity to literally “live” in a model of the Frank hideaway. Those who have taken this “tour” – both young and old – have been deeply moved by the experience.
The exhibit was first presented at the 11th Annual San Diego Jewish Book Fair in 2005. It is based on the book Inside Anne Frank’s House: An Illustrated Journey Through Anne’s World. It provides an inside look at the Frank hideaway, the story told in Anne’s diary, and Anne’s message of tolerance. This real-life physical representation of the secret hiding place illustrates many of the events Anne described. It also conveys the importance of the diary as an historical and literary document.
Participants will experience what it was like to live in hiding with the constant threat of being discovered, captured and taken to a concentration camp. But they will also leave with a sense of hope for the future of humanity and a confirmation of faith in human persistence when faced with evil and incredible trauma.
In Nov. 2006, when Del Mar native Zachary Kucinski was barely eleven years old, he came to the San Diego Jewish Book Fair and met Ela Weissberger, a Holocaust survivor of Room 28 at Theresienstadt Concentration Camp.
“She had her yellow star in her shirt pocket [and] I started thinking where my grandfather’s yellow stars could be. [My grandfather] thought that his mom had probably burned their stars when they went into hiding,” explains Kucinski, now 13 years old. At that moment, the young man decided that he wanted his own yellow star in order to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive.
“I finally located a “Jude” from a Holocaust museum that was closing somewhere in France. When it came, I decided I wanted to look for more Holocaust artifacts. Now my collection has grown and my dream is to open a WWII/Holocaust Museum here in San Diego someday. It is important to keep the lessons of the Holocaust alive.”
Kucinski’s mother Debbie Sweet is Co-Chair of Family Day at this year’s San Diego Jewish Book Fair. She is very proud to
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have her son following in her footsteps as curator of an exhibit at the book fair.
“Zachary has always been a history buff,” reports Sweet. “When he decided he wanted his own Yellow Star, he did extensive research on line. He came to me and told me that he had found a star from a reputable seller on E-bay, and I was very happy to give him the $500 to purchase that star. But I had no idea how far he would go with this idea!”
After his Bar Mitzvah in 2008, Zachary decided to use his Bar Mitzvah gift money as a fund for purchasing Holocaust memorabilia. According to Sweet, he has very wisely spent down that fund and now has such an extensive collection of Holocaust artifacts that he has created his own exhibition - As Seen Through the Dream of a San Diego Teenager - which will be shown exclusively at the 2009 San Diego Jewish Book Fair from Nov. 5-12 at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center in La Jolla.
“Zachary can tell you the provenance – the entire history – of each object in his collection. He is truly the curator of the museum – and he is not yet 14!” exclaimed his very proud mother. “He’s been involved with directors of Holocaust Museums around the world, and I don’t doubt that he will accomplish his dream of a museum here in San Diego.”
Zachary’s collection includes the uniform of a prisoner at Auschwitz, another camp’s women’s prisoner dress, yellow stars and other Jewish identification markers, a Nazi camera and some of the photos it took, a book of regulations from Bulgaria during it’s Nazification, and an original canister that held the Zyklon B that was used to gas Jews and other prisoners to death.
Sweet has been involved with three previous San Diego Jewish Book Fair exhibitions – a tenement home in NYC, Inside Anne Frank’s House and last year’s Davka: The Survival of a People. Sweet traveled to London and Germany this past summer with Stephen Smith, Director of the Shoah Foundation at USC to replicate the Davka format in an exhibition entitled Generations and featuring the families of survivors living in those locations.
However, Sweet emphasized, “this is Zachary’s exhibition. ...We can’t use pins or tape and can’t display any of the artifacts in a way which might compromise their integrity. These artifacts are investments – not only because of the money that’s gone into them, and not only because of their potential future monetary value, but mostly because of what Zachary plans to do with them in the future.”
The third exhibition at the 2009 Book Fair will be The Family I Never Knew. This beautiful display of the art of Ardyn Halter addressed the Shoah from the point of view of the second generation, as well as from the perspective of everyone born after the Holocaust. Halter was born in London and educated at Cambridge University. His paintings and illuminated Judaica have become collectors' items in Israel, Europe and North America, sought by both museums and private collectors. Halter is dedicated to the concept of continuity with Jewish tradition through the affirmation of Jewish ethics and values. His work draws on the rich fund of influences on Jewish art and life over the centuries but also looks ahead, fusing the strands of centuries of the Jewish past with new designs in the present, particularly with the combination of those influences and cultures in modern day Israel.
Both the Anne Frank House and the Ardyn Halter exhibit will be available as traveling exhibits after the Book Fair. One can also schedule DAVKA: The Survival of a People, another phenomenal exhibition that premiered at the 2006 San Diego Jewish Book Fair. This multimedia exhibit of photographs, videos, and audio recordings illuminates the path from Shoah to Survival through the oral histories of descendants of survivors. People visiting DAVKA gain a feeling of hope and inspiration, and an understanding of the Holocaust’s impact on families of Nazi victims and survivors –both good and bad. To schedule an exhibit, contact Jackie Gmach (858) 362-1150 or jackieg@lfjcc.com.
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Beth Jacob Congregation
has nearby home to rent
SAN DIEGO—Rand Levin, president of Beth Jacob Congregation, has informed us that Beth Jacob Congregation recently acquired a three bedroom home in the College area of San Diego which the Orthodox congregation would like to offer for rental at $1,800 a month. Here is a link to the particulars.
DA Dumanis notifies defense bar
of errors in toxicology tests
SAN DIEGO (Press Release)—San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie M. Dumanis said Monday a letter is being sent to defense attorneys in San Diego County apprising them of concerns from a toxicology lab about incorrect test results connected to some criminal cases, primarily misdemeanor cases.
“When we are told of potential problems like this, we alert the defense bar and work quickly to determine the potential scope and any impact it may have on cases,” said DA Dumanis. “Just as we have done in the past, we will investigate thoroughly and share the findings with the appropriate parties as soon as possible.”
The Southern California-based lab recently alerted San Diego County law enforcement about potential problems with a small number of toxicology test samples and test results from June and July of this year.
In April of this year, the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office responded quickly to a similar situation when it alerted defense attorneys about the work of a lab technician from Riverside County who admitted to falsifying reports during his work at a lab in Colorado. In that case, the DA’s Office also sent a letter to defense attorney organizations to inform them about the former lab technicians work history and criminal record.
Also this year, the DA’s Office reviewed dozens of taped police interviews of suspects and witnesses that a police officer withheld in several criminal cases. Eventually, 37 tapes were identified and are now being turned over to defense attorneys to evaluate in the context of their cases.
“As prosecutors, we often are required to deal with issues that are beyond our control but affect our cases. When that happens, it’s our ethical duty in the interest of justice to fully investigate and disclose these issues in a timely manner,” said DA Dumanis.
The District Attorney’s Office will have no further public comment until the results of the investigation are complete.
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