Update on Recent Developments

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Wyman Institute Update: April 30, 2004

 

    1. There is still time to register for the Wyman Institute’s upcoming conference, “Teaching and Learning About America’s Response to the Holocaust.” The conference will be held on Sunday, May 16, 2004, at the Ramaz Lower School building, 125 East 85 Street, New York City, from 10 am to 5 pm. The sessions will include remarks by Prof. David S. Wyman; a panel on U.S. media coverage of the Nazi genocide, featuring veteran correspondent Bernard Kalb; a panel featuring sons and daughters of Americans of all faiths who spoke out for rescue of Jews from the Holocaust; a special workshop for teachers on these topics; a screening of “They Looked Away,” the new film about the Allies’ refusal to bomb Auschwitz; and the debut of a new exhibit, “Cartoonists Against the Holocaust: Art in the Service of Humanity,” with comments by legendary comic book artist Joe Kubert. Nina Solarz, who is chair of the Wyman Institute’s Task Force on Education, will chair the conference. New teacher credit is available. To register, call 202-434-8994 or go to www.WymanInstitute.org

    2. The Wyman Institute’s web site has been completely revamped and updated, thanks to the generous assistance of Alexis Massie, Jon Hutter, and Doug Birgfeld of Garrand & Company of Portland, Maine. Please visit our site at: www.wymaninstitute.org

    3. In response to a protest by the Wyman Institute, the weekly magazine The Nation has changed its advertising policy and will no longer accept advertisements from Holocaust-deniers. The controversy began when an ad from the Institute for Historical Review, a leading Holocaust-denial group, was published in a recent issue of The Nation. The Wyman Institute sent a letter of protest, and received a reply from advertising manager Leigh Novog stating that the letter of protest had resulted in a meeting of the publication’s Advertising and Acceptability Committee, and a decision to reject ads from Holocaust-deniers in the future.

    4. “The Return of Ben Hecht,” by Wyman Institute director Dr. Rafael Medoff, was published in the Washington Times on April 20; his Yom HaShoah article about Marlon Brando’s role in publicizing Holocaust issues in 1946-1947 was published in the Boston Jewish Advocate, New Jersey Jewish Standard, Texas Jewish Post, and Heritage Florida Jewish Press. Dr. Medoff was the Yom HaShoah speaker at the Hebrew Academy Middle School in Rockville, MD and the Jericho (Long Island) Jewish Center; he also spoke recently at the Jewish Theological Seminary and a new rabbinical seminary, Yeshivat Chovevi Torah, in New York City.

    5. Wyman Institute Academic Council Member Dr. Alex Grobman was the subject of a feature story in the New Jersey Jewish Standard on April 9, concerning his efforts on behalf of Jewish education, including the new pamphlet, “Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ an Analysis,” which he coauthored with Rabbi Jack Bemporad.

    6. Megillat Hashoah, edited by Wyman Institute Advisory Committee member Prof. David Golinkin (Schechter Institute for Jewish Studies, Jerusalem) and Rabbi Philip Scheim, was read in numerous Jewish communities on Yom HaShoah. It was the subject of widespread media coverage in recent weeks, including interviews with Prof. Golinkin on Israel Radio and Israel Television, an editorial in the Jerusalem Report, an op-ed in the Jerusalem Post, and reviews in Makor Rishon and Amudim.