RECENT AND UPCOMING EVENTS:
1. Prof. David S. Wyman will be the keynote speaker at a major conference in Tel Aviv on June 23, “Rescue and Obstruction: The U.S. and the Destruction of European Jewry,” organized by the family of the late Hillel Kook (Peter Bergson). Other speakers will include Dr. Rafael Medoff, Dr. Rebecca Kook, Prof. Judith Baumel Schwartz, Prof. Joseph Agassi, and filmmaker James Barker (“Auschwitz and the Allies”). For more information, visit www.WymanInstitute.org
2. The recent “Israel at 60” celebration in Washington, D.C., which attracted tens of thousands of visitors, featured an exhibit on Israel-Diaspora relations, which included material provided by the Wyman Institute, such as photographs of the 1943 rabbis’ march on Washington and newspaper ads sponsored by the Bergson Group.
3. Hundreds of students from the Ramaz High School in New York City attended a Yom Hashoah event organized by the Wyman Institute, focusing on Mrs. Dina Babbitt’s struggle to regain the portraits she painted in Auschwitz (which are being held by the Auschwitz State Museum, in Poland). Dr. Rafael Medoff introduced the program, Mrs. Babbitt spoke to the students via I-Chat, and Wyman Institute Arts & Letters Council member Sal Amendola spoke about the principle of artists’ rights and the involvement of comic book artists in the Babbitt campaign. Afterwards, the students signed a mass petition in support of Mrs. Babbitt, which was personally delivered to the leaders of the Auschwitz Museum by Ramaz seniors who visited the site in May. Special thanks to Wyman Institute Arts & Letters Council member J. David Spurlock for his assistance in helping to bring about the program.
4. Wyman Institute Arts & Letters Council member Archie Rand was recently featured in a New York Times article about his creation of 613 paintings, one about each of the commandments in the Torah.
5. The film “House of Life: The Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague,” co-produced by Wyman Institute Arts & Letters Council member Mark Podwal with Allan Miller, will be broadcast nationally on PBS in April 2009 in commemoration of the Holocaust Remembrance Day.
NEW COUNCIL MEMBER:
Welcome to the newest member of the Wyman Institute’s Arts & Letters Council, artist Sal Amendola. Sal worked for many years as a comic book artist (“Batman,” “Star Trek”) and as an editor at DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and Archie Comics. A longtime faculty member at New York City’s School of Visual Arts, Sal is presently at work on a series of novels for young people.
NEW BOOK:
Vallentine Mitchell has just published a new book by Wyman Institute Academic Council member Dr. Bat-Ami Zucker (Bar Ilan University), Cecilia Razovsky and American Jewish Women’s Rescue Operations in the Second World War. To order your copy of this important book, please visit www.vmbooks.com