College of Liberal Arts

Jewish StudiesIssue 75, Summer 2005

In This Issue:

Nie Wieder: Student Voices in Response to Study Abroad Spring Break Trip to the Dachau Memorial.........3

“Stolpersteine” laid on May 9, 2005 in Ronnen-berg, Germany...........7

For Further Reading: New Additions to the JSP Library Collection.................9

2004 - 2005 B'nai B'rith Barzillai Lodge No. 111 Prize in Jewish Studies Winner Announced..........10

newsletterA Letter from the New DirectorIt is a privilege to have been chosen to direct Purdue’s Jewish Studies Program, and I look forward to my time here. For over twenty years I was a member of the Philosophy Department at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, and since 1996 I directed the Judaic Studies Program at UK. I have a BA from the University of California at Berkeley, a(nother) BA from Cambridge University, and a PhD from the University of Pittsburgh. My research and teaching interests are in Jewish and Islamic philosophy, and in the Greek philosophical tradition in the medieval period. I have a very active research program, have di-rected seven dissertations in the history of philosophy, and in the fall semester shall be teaching “Islamic and Jewish Philosophy and the Classcial Tradition.” Vivian and I are the parents of Joshua (20), Aron (15), Joseph (13), and Miriam (10). Joshua is studying economics at Purdue, and Aron, Joey, and Miriam are in West Lafayette schools. We are happy to be amongst you, and hopefully we will finish unpacking in the near future. I am busy learning about the Jewish Studies Program here, and am most fortunate to have Alice Wenger as my assistant. Together we meet weekly and discuss all aspects of the Program, from budget to curriculum, and beyond. Thanks to Gordon Young, from whom I assumed the directorship, we find the Program in sound financial shape, able to support a vibrant lecture series and Shofar, our noteworthy aca-demic journal devoted to all aspects of Judaica. At the moment (late July 2005) we are planning events for the upcoming academic year. The Program has regularly sponsored biweekly brown-bag lunches devoted to faculty and student work-in-progress, as well as an evening lecture series. These will continue. Suggestions are always welcome and may be directed to me at dfrank@cla.purdue.edu. Please forward your email address to the office at jewishstudies@purdue.edu to be added to our mailing list, so as to be informed of Jewish Studies events. As I survey the scene, I feel the need to devote effort to building the undergraduate Jewish Stud-ies major and minor. We have a solid list of courses in place in literature, language, history, and phi-losophy, but too few students in my estimation commit to more than a single course. I would like to see students taking our courses for reasons other than filling a college or university area requirement. To this end of building the undergarduate program we are planning a publicity blitz, by handing out flyers about the Program and what it offers to all students taking Jewish Studies-related courses in the fall semester. There will be an annoucement about a social event at Hillel early in the semester for interested students. I would like to use this opportunity to meet students, forge a link with Hillel, and in general to sell our major and minor. I do not believe it is difficult to imagine that a Jewish Studies minor would complement just about any course of study. The major may be a more difficult sell, but the number of students major-ing in Religious Studies at Purdue signals to me that there is a healthy interst here for study in this area. Further, I intend to clarify the real strengths (and weaknesses) in our program at present, with a view to making the case in due course for faculty lines, perhaps in the form of indicating to department search committees the (possible) connectedness between departmental needs and our own programmatic desires. Certainly there are many cases in which overlap is possible, to the mutual benefit of all. I hope in the next few months to meet many of your who are reading these words. I plan to work closely with the Jewish Studies advisory committee and to solicit its advice. I sense that community rela-tions are strong, and we shall not lose sight of the greater Lafayette community in our plans and program-ming. In closing, I am delighted to be a part of Jewish Studies at Purdue. Please feel free to forward your thoughts at any time.

Kol tuv,Dan Frank

Jewish Studies 2

In MemoriamOn behalf of the Jewish Studies Program at Purdue University, Daniel H. Frank and the Jewish Studies Committee extend their condolences to Gordon D. Young and his family. Gordon’s wife, Barbara Jean Knutson Young, passed away Thursday, July 14th. Gordon and Barbara were married for 42 years, and she is survived by Gordon, their two daughters (Susan & Kristin), and four grandchildren (Ivana, Ivan, Isabelle & Kiera).

We would also like to extend our thanks to the following people for their donations and condolences.

Donations to Jewish Studies Program

Janet AfaryDavid & Gail BeckB.H. & E.T. ClagettWilliam and Doris CollinsSandra ElkinMichael & Rachel FrenchGlobal Tracks, Inc.Harold & Edith GreenbergJoe & Rose HabererMs. Lotte E. HirschHistory Department (Purdue University)R. Douglas & Mary Ellen HurtEugene JacksonJefferson High SchoolFrank & Beth LambertNancy & Clayton LeinRobert & Jill MayBob & Gail MelsonDavid & Lynn ParrishSusan RistauEd & Cyrelle SimonSam & Lulla ShermisElaine Knutson & William SpringenbergJon TeafordNina TronsteinTimothy & Beverly VolkmanThe Welcome MinistryJennifer & Colin William

Donations to Bridges for Peace

Nikki HoldcroftC.K. Kleine-AhlbrandtJohn & Suzanne LarsonAnne LommelMark Levinthal & Donna Osborn Donald & Nadyne ParmanJudith RogersWhitney Walton

If you wish to make a donation to either of the following organizations, please mail donations to the following addresses:

Purdue University Jewish Studies ProgramBeering Hall of Liberal Arts and Education, Room 6166 100 North University StreetWest Lafayette, IN 47907-2098

Bridges for PeaceIn remembrance of Mrs. Barbara J. YoungP.O. Box 33145Tulsa, Oklahoma 74153-9984

Number 75. Summer 20053

Nie Wieder: Student Voices in Response to Study Abroad Spring Break Trip to the Dachau MemorialBy: Michelle E. Carreon

Silence seemed to be the only visible response from the group that day. “Seemed” is the important word here, since it became more and more appar-ent that there was more going on inside the minds of the Purdue students who now found themselves walking the grounds of a place associated with tragedy and one of the greatest crimes against humanity the world has ever known. The first days of the Spring Break 2005 Munich/Greece Study Abroad Trip had included the usual schedule a group of university history students would expect. The group visited historical sites within the city of Munich, including the Royal Palace, museums such as the Pinakotheks, the Glyptothek and AntikenSammlug, and Hitler’s Munich (including Nazi headquarters, the sites where the Nazi party had marched and met as well as important sites in Hitler’s own history). The night before Tuesday, March 15, 2005, had been filled with good food and times at the Hofbräuhaus, a somewhat tourist attraction where music and festivities had been enjoyed. The fun continued through the night, and the next day would be one that started earlier than most would have preferred. Sleepy eyes looked out the S-Bahn windows at the German countryside as the group made its way to a place that would suddenly change the tone of the group to something much different from that night before. The Dachau concentration camp was established in March of 1933 and was the first regular concentration camp established by the Nazis. It was located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory about ten miles northwest of Munich, near the northeastern part of the town of Dachau. The camp held about 4,800 prisoners during the first year, and the number had risen to 13,260 by 1937. Political prisoners were the initial internees, which included German Communists, Social Democrats, and other political opponents of the Nazi government. Over time, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Gypsies, homosexuals and others who were considered to be “unacceptable” to “normal” society were interned in Dachau.

On November 9th, the German diplomat Ernst vom Rath was assassinated in Paris. This serves as a pretext for the staging of the “Kristallnacht” pogrom (known commonly as the “Night of Broken Glass”), in which SA squads in civilian clothing demolished synagogues and raided Jewish shops. The Gestapo and SS carried out Heydrich’s order to imprison between 20,000 and 30,000 rich Jews. On November 10, 1938, more than a thousand Jews were sent to Dachau. The number of Jewish prisoners went up to 11,911 in the following days. Of that number, 3,700 were from Austria. By the first of December, the total number of prisoners had reached 14,232. Ill-treatment and humiliation was put to action. Supplies got bottlenecked and starved Jews were exposed to abuse during roll-call. They either had to stand motionless or do punitive exercises. At night they were crammed into crowded and unfurnished barracks. Sixty-four people died during the remaining days of November, and 87 died in December. As a way out, the Nazis offered prisoners an opportunity to give up their property as part of the Aryanization that had already been taking place and then to emigrate. Under Himmler’s orders, every Jew was to be told that he would be sent for life to a concentration camp if he returned. Gradual releases began in November. During De-cember, the number of 14,232 was reduced to 8,989. By March, it was down to 4,326 and then stablilized between 3,300 and 3,900 from April.

On April 26, 1945, while American troops approached and liberation was in action, there was the registered number of 67,665 prisoners in Dachau and its subcamps. Of this amount, 43, 350 were catego-rized as political prisoners and 22,100 were Jews. The remainder fell into other various categories. The number of prisoners that were incarcerated in the Dachau concentration camp between 1933 and 1945 exceeded 188,000. Between January 1940 and May 1945, the number of prisoners who had died in the camp and the subcamps was at least 28,000. The number of those who perished at the camp between 1933 and 1939 must be added to that amount. It is highly unlikely that the precise total number of victims who lost their lives in Dachau will ever be known.

As students, we read about the Shoah, and we read about the numbers of lives lost. We see these numbers in certain history books, on data charts and tables, and through documentaries and films. As a college student in the United States, it is difficult to fully imagine these atrocities. While reading his-tory, we are unable to cross that line into what we can only imagine it was like living during, around or

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as victims of this sort of tragic event. In a way, it is like reading science fiction, something difficult to imagine. It is shocking and hard to fathom how these acts were carried out and how other human beings were treated as expendable things, mere pests to rid society of.

Being on the actual grounds of Dachau is something completely different. You can read and do years of research on the Shoah, and noth-ing will probably prepare you for actually being at the site of what was once a concentration camp—a place where mass murder took place and was carried out like mere factory work. The weather was cold and almost calm on that March morning when we made our way from Munich to the site. Snow lay on the grounds, and the site almost appeared peaceful and innocent. I remember thinking how inappropriate it seemed. This was not an innocent or peaceful place. Its history was darker and much more menacing. I recall that not many (including myself) in the group talked.

Everyone walked around in silence. Some were in constant contemplation. Others cried a bit to them-selves. Some walked in groups or pairs, and some wandered alone. I found myself alone most of the time. Perhaps I was in the company of Professor Young, Professor Mork or another student, but alto-gether, I was alone at Dachau. I was alone with my thoughts. Everywhere I walked where the barracks used to stand, I kept thinking about those that were there—those that were eventually liberated and those that may have suffered and lost their lives exactly where I stood. My body was numb, and I eventually made my way to where the crematoriums (“old” and “new”) were still standing. I walked through the "new" crematorium into the gas chambers and where the ovens were located. We’re told that the gas chambers were never actually used at Dachau, but this doesn’t seem to matter once you’re there and you realize that they were there to serve a purpose, “if needed”. Flowers lay inside the ovens where victims’ bodies were once burned to ash. Upon exiting the building, I took some deep breaths and really couldn’t decide if I needed to shed tears or vomit. Walking the remaining grounds of Dachau I thought about numerous things. These thoughts passed through my mind at about a hundred miles a minute. I thought about that part of the world at that time. I thought about the political state and the final solution to expel the Jews from Europe and exterminate those that didn’t fit into Adolf Hilter’s and the Nazi party’s mold. I thought about the past, but at the same time, I thought about the present. I thought over and over about the question, “What is different about now, the world I’m currently living in?” There are obvious differ-ences, and yet, I wonder how far we’ve come. We are still engaging in wars and surrounded by violence both formed by hatred for one another and differences amongst our fellow human beings. This very real and unforgettable visit to the past forced me to think about our present. We live in a world where I would like to think people “know better” and where prejudice has no place. Although it’s difficult to picture this world as a reality. I think that visiting this part of our past in person is an important tool in not only teaching others about the past and its affect on our future but also in teaching ourselves how to feel compassion for fellow human beings despite differences, whatever they may be—be it ideologies or physical and racial differences. Dachau is a part of all of our history and past. It is a standing reminder of a time (among many) when government control attempted to expel and exterminate those that were not viewed as important contributions and members of “normal” society. The questions at hand and that I conclude with are “What is a ‘normal’ society?” and “Are we still trying to achieve our own perception of it? If so, at what costs?”

Historical information obtained from:“Dachau.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Website. <http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/>and Zámečník, Stanislav. That Was Dachau 1933-1945. Foundation internationale de Dachau. le cherche midi, 2004.

Number 75. Summer 20055

Student QuotesJoe Bettenhausen

“It is sometimes hard to imagine the atrocities of the Holocaust until you lay your foot upon the dirt where it took place.”

“Dachau seemed to have an eerie fog that swept over the camp. The group became silent.”

Charlie DeMasie

“Being at Dachau finally made me truly realize how awful man can treat one another, but while I’m sure that we all wish the Holocaust would have never happened, it can never be forgotten.”

Paul Dodds

“Revisiting the Dachau concentration camp 5 years after my initial experience was very different. Having been there once before I did not need to take more pictures, and so avoided the distance the lens puts between one and an experience. However, I was there longer the first time, and was able to get more of a sense of the place. Looking back on it now I am having the same reaction to it I had then, silence. There is no collection of words that can really do justice what one feels at such places, only silence for the dead.”

Sarah Ferguson

“I cannot believe what kind of treatment the prisoners went through. It just made me sick to my stomach and brought tears to my eyes. It made me realize that life is very important and no life should go to waste.”

Edmond W. Holcombe

“Visiting Dachau was the only site in Europe in which I separated myself from my fellow students. I walked those sacred grounds alone, the same ground that thousands of Nazi victims walked over 60 years ago. In my minds eye I could see them, I could hear them, it was the most emotional experience on this trip, and one I will never forget. Nie wieder.”

Becki Kass

“When I saw Dachau, everything I had ever learned about concentration camps became a reality. It is easy for us Americans, far removed from these sites, to read about the Holocaust and look at pictures, and think about how awful it must have been. It is an entirely different thing to stand in front of the crematorium and feel how awful it still is.”

Hannah Larson

“Visiting Dachau was heart-wrenching. It was incredibly sobering to realize that horrendous acts were committed on the same soil as I stood. It made me stand up a little taller, breathe a little deeper and remember to be thankful for all that I have.”

“As I walked the grounds of Dachau, I felt the contrast between the beautiful sunny day and the horrors that were committed. The contrast only made the day that much more beautiful and the crimes that much more horrendous.”

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Stephanie Lister

“I’ve always heard about how horrible the concentration camps were, but it never really hit me until I visited Dachau. I couldn’t help but imagine how people must have felt during their stay there, and up until and includ-ing their death. As I left Dachau, I couldn’t quit replaying the images of the crematoriums, and the piles of bodies that I saw in the [documentary viewed that day]. I couldn’t believe how people could go day to day killing so many innocent people, not even thinking twice about what they were doing, or how they would feel if it were to happen to them.”

Adam Lugowski “It’s important to think about why Dachau was built, and why there are many people who insist it stays up. We need to not forget the attitude

of arbitrarily labeling people. We also need to take the next step and make sure it doesn’t happen again, no matter how ‘just’ it may seem at the time. Doesn’t matter if the label is ‘Jew,’ ‘Commu-nist,’ ‘Pole,’ or ‘Terrorist’.”

Justin Riskus

“While I have studied and read about the Holocaust numerous times, it was only until I was able to visit Dachau that I was able to put things into perspective. Seeing the actual camp site and realiz-ing what actually happened there almost half a century ago was quite an experience, and not really a pleasant one. However, by going through the museum and the camp and actually seeing what ordeals the victims went through humanized the entire experience. I think that while I have studied Dachau in the past, being there in person allowed me to realize how normal and similar these victims were to anyone else. Not that I thought differently before, but my visit brought this fact to light.”

Bradley T. Schmidt

“A truly disturbing scene to look upon, imagining how miserable life was like for the prisoners in the dead of winter. The crematoriums really made me question, who could have such a lack of con-science to be able to commit such atrocities? For me, visiting Dachau has the Holocaust in a whole new light. I know I will never look at it the same way again.”

Cat Siebecker

“It was amazing how you could walk through the camp and put yourself in the past. You can imagine yourself suffering the way they did. It makes your stomach sick to know what happened there.”

Monica Thomas

“Dachau was definitely a difficult experience. Though it was not a camp where prisoners were sent to be killed, they had the means to turn it into to such a concentration camp. In the building of the gas chamber there were descriptions in each room of what took place there. It was clear upon read-ing these that the Nazis did not think of the prisoners as people, everything they did was so orga-nized and every plan so precise they carried out their actions as if it were in a factory, an assembly line. It was very influential to go and visit, and to be standing in a place that still has such an impact in our world today.”

All Dachau photos courtesy of Adam Lugowski

Number 75. Summer 2005

7

“Stolpersteine” (‘stumbling stones’) laid on May 9, 2005 in Ronnenberg, Germany, to remember and to honor the lives of my grandmother and two relatives. A report by Fritz G. Cohen

Ronnenberg, Germany is where I was born on August 5, 1922, and where I spent the first sixteen years of my life. In August 1938, I emigrated with my parents from Germany to the United States. Although my grand-mother Lina Seligmann Cohen, 80 at the time, was included on an affidavit given to us by distant relatives in Kansas City, Kansas, the US Consulate in Hamburg denied her request for a visa. Having broken her hip a few months earlier, she did not qualify for a visa. Consequently, she stayed behind, and together with her older sister Bertha Seligmann Abrahamsohn, she moved into a retirement home for Jewish aged in the city of Hannover. With the onset of World War II in September 1939, she and her sister were forced to move from the retirement home into a succession of “Judenhäuser” (‘houses for Jews’), where conditions were unspeakable. (See Die hannoverschen Juden-häuser. Zur Situation der Juden in der Zeit der Ghettoisierung und Verfolgung 1941-1945. Marlis Buchholz, 1987.) Their last move was into what had been the Jewish School for Horticulture in Ahlem, a suburb of Hannover (see my “Institute for Horticulture, Agriculture and Vocations in Ahlem, Germany (1893-1942): Its Mission and its History.” Jewish Studies Newsletter Number 67, November 2000). In July 1942, my grandmother and her sister were deported to Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia where both died shortly after arrival. According to the Certificate of Death signed by “der Älteste der Juden” (‘the Eldest of the Jews’), my grandmother died on February 20, 1943. In 1998, the City of Ronnenberg’s request for an urn filled with earth taken from a mass grave near the Theresienstadt Ghetto was granted. On July 13, 2001, in the presence of city officials and clergy, of myself and my family, my Grandmother received a symbolic burial next to my grandfather’s grave in Ronnenberg’s Jewish Cemetery. A film record was made of the occasion, which was shown publicly later on, and again on May 9 of this year. My family and I have been deeply appreciative of the city’s dedica-tion to keeping alive the memory of its Jewish citizens.

This year, the City of Ronnenberg invited me to participate in an extensive program to com-memorate the history of Ronnenberg’s Jewish citizens, which took place on May 9. Central to the observances was the laying of stones “Stolpersteine” (‘stumbling stones’) in honor of the memory of my grandmother and of her niece and nephew, Rosa and Max Seligmann. The stones, designed and produced by Günther Demnig, a Cologne sculptor, measure 10x10x10 cm, with a brassplate on which name, date of birth, and place and date of death (if it can be established) of each victim are engraved. It is hoped that the stones will prompt even a casual passerby to ‘stumble’ or ‘trip’ and generate a moment of recollection and contemplation. The reader of this account will note that the term used to explain the cause of death is “ermordet” (‘murder’), and thus leaves no doubt as to the circumstances. The stones were cemented into the sidewalk in front of each of the two houses in which the victims lived all or most of their lives. In my grandmother’s case, this was the house of my family. The event took place at 3:45 in the afternoon and was attended by a large crowd, including the Mayor Wolfgang Walther, representatives of Ronnenberg’s City Council, and by the President of the Region Hannover, Dr. Michael Arndt. I was invited to of-fer remarks at each of the ceremonies. The fact that the attendance exceeded even the most optimistic expectations was no surprise to those who know that the Cohen and Seligmann families were prominent citizens, who contributed to the quality of life of the city. They were also patriots who served their country in WW I, and a cenotaph in the town’s cemetery carries the name of my father’s brother, who was killed in action at the age of 17. As to Max and Rosie Seligmann (siblings), they had been passengers on the infamous “St. Louis,” but had found refuge in Belgium until the German invasion (see Voyage of the St. Louis United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) confronted them with the decision to attempt to survive in Brussels or to escape to France. Rosie was able to live clandestinely in Brussels until she was betrayed, and Max, having fled to Vichy France, and waiting there for his sister to join him, was interned in the Les Milles camp. In August 1942, he, as well as all other inmates, were turned over to German authorities. In his last letter from Les Milles, dated August 12, 1942, and sent to our relatives already in the United States, he expresses bitter disappointment over his failure to obtain a visa, and concludes with what ap-

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"...as human beings we have a responsibility to determine the moral landscape of our societies, and to make ethi-cal choices."

Pitured from left to right: Günther Demnig of Cologne (sculptor), Wolfgang Walther (Mayor of Ronnenberg), Cohen, and Dr. Michael Arndt (President of the Region Hannover)

pears to be a tone of resignation, “… in any case it is probably too late for me anyway. Tomorrow our camp will be disbanded. Our destination is unknown. May God protect all of us!” Both brother and sister are recorded as having perished in Auschwitz.

As of this writing, “Stolpersteine” have been set in more than 90 communities in Germany. The cost of approximately 100 Euros is borne by private individuals or as in the case of Ron-nenberg by organizations such as “die Deutsch-Israelische Gesell-schaft” (‘the German-Israeli Society’). In each instance, the city administration authorizes the necessary permits, as well as the rerouting of traffic and other public matters. Two members of the German-Israeli Society who worked tirelessly in behalf of the en-tire day of commemoration and tribute to the Jewish past of Ron-nenberg, are Gabriele and Frank Lehmberg. Gabriele Lehmberg holds an appointment in the Cultural Office of the Region Han-

nover. She is one of the curators of the Museum at the former Jew-ish School of Horticulture (see above) and serves also as guide for groups and individuals. Strong and active support came from Ronnenberg’s mayor Wolfgang Walther and members of the City Council.

While the laying of the three “Stolpersteine” was the focal point of the day, four events were scheduled around it, at which presentations were followed by discussions. I was asked to speak at all of them, accompanied by the Mayor of Ronnenberg, by other elected officials and by clerics and lay representatives of the Christian community. At 10 a.m. on Monday I met with ca. 200 17 to 18 year old students of the Marie Curie High School in its Assembly Hall. At the suggestion of the program committee, I reflected on my own high school years, which ended with our emigration. I spoke about the verbal and physical abuse at the hands of other students when I attended the Gymnasium in Han-nover, and its effect on a boy in his formative years. At their request, I elaborated on several topics and answered questions, which in every case were probing and informed. The session ended at 11:45. At 12 noon a luncheon was given by the city of Ronnenberg for Leona and I, for the school’s History teachers, and for representatives of the German-Israeli Society. At 3 o’clock I was asked to speak at the community hall of St. Michael’s Church (part of it dates to 800 AD) of my experiences growing up in Nazi Germany, and about Ronnenberg’s Jewish community. The meeting was attended by ca. 100 invited citizens, city officials and the President of the Region Hannover, Dr. Michael Arndt. At the end of my remarks, the Mayor spoke and closed the meeting. As related above, at 3:45 p.m. “Stolperste-ine” were laid. At 7:00 p.m., a program organized by local churches and clubs, and attended by sev-eral hundred people, was presented in the Community Hall. The first part was devoted to Jewish life in Ronnenberg, and the second presented a wider aspect of Jewish culture in Germany. It included music performed by student groups, by a professional vocalist, and by two actors on the staff of a radio sta-tion who read poetry. During a brief intermission, Israeli food was served, and the program, scheduled to last until 10 p.m., ended at 11:30 p.m. with concluding remarks by me and by Mayor Walther.

In retrospect, my presentations and reflections tried to accomplish more than a detailed narra-tive of abuse and dehumanization. With the advantage of knowing history, I reminded each audience, in particular the high school students, that radical, totalitarian ideologies, wherever and whatever their pretext, will not compromise their ultimate goal of dehumanizing others. I suggested that as human beings we have a responsibility to determine the moral landscape of our societies, and to make ethical choices.

In sum, my visit there in May was also a journey back to a part of my life, of which the first ten years were content and peaceful. Somewhat later I had left with a sense of relief and without a mo-ment of regret. The fact that my native town of Ronnenberg has in recent years undertaken to honor its Jewish citizens, who became victims of the Shoah, has restored validity to its reputation as a thorough-ly just and decent place. Before departing from the Community Hall at the end of the Monday evening program, I tried to picture for the audience my recollections of our departure from what had been home, at the end of July 1938. The taxi ride through town on the way to Hannover and emigration – it was late evening but still light – was somber and depressing. Then, and for many years thereafter, it would never have occurred to me, that such a day as “this one” would come, when I could declare that I am again a “Ronnenberger” – an old one to be sure – but a Ronnenberger nonetheless.

9 Number 75. Summer 2005

For Further Reading: New Additions to the JSP Library Collection

The following is a small selection of the many recent additions to the Judaica/Jewish Studies collection at the Purdue University Library. Please note that any citizen of Indiana may borrow books from the University Library! We have added the library call number to aid you in locating the books. For a more complete listing of recent additions use the main library’s THOR webpage www.lib.purdue.edu/cats/index.html and then click “West Lafayette” campus. Then, use the “Search for” function.

Awret, Irene. They’ll have to catch me first: An Artist’s Coming of Age in the Third Reich. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wiscon-sin Press/Dryad Press, c2004.Location: Humanities, Social Science & EducationCall Number: 943.086092 Aw71B 2004

Barnstone, Willis. We Jews and Blacks: Memoir with Poems. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, c2004.Location: Humanities, Social Science & EducationCall Number: 811.54 B267B 2004

Berkovitz, Jay R. Rites and Passages: The Beginnings of Modern Jewish Culture in France, 1650-1860. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, c2004.Location: Humanities, Social Science & EducationCall Number: 944.004924 B455r 2004

Cheyette, Bryan and Nadia Valman, editors. The Image of the Jew in European Liberal Culture, 1789-1914. London; Portland, Or-egon: Vallentine Mitchell, 2004.Location: Humanities, Social Science & EducationCall Number: 809.933529924009034 Im15 2004

Chilton, Bruce. Rabbi Paul: An Intellectual Biography. New York: Doubleday, c2004.Location: Humanities, Social Science & EducationCall Number: 225.92 P281B C439 2004

Eisenberg, Ronald L. The JPS Guide to Jewish Traditions. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2004.Location: Humanities, Social Science & EducationCall Number: 296.4 Ei83j 2004

Epstein, Lawrence J. Mixed Nuts: America’s Love Affair with Comedy Teams: From

Burns and Allen to Belushi and Aykroyd. New York: PublicAffairs, c2004.Location: Humanities, Social Science & EducationCall Number: 792.70280922730904 Ep85m 2004

Grossman, Avraham. Pious and Rebellious: Jewish Women in Medieval Europe. Waltham, Mass: Brandeis University Press; Hanover: University Press of New England, c2004.Location: Humanities, Social Science & EducationCall Number: 296.38094 G914hE 2004

Hoffman, Roy. Chicken Dreaming Corn: A Novel. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, c2004.Location: Humanities, Social Science & EducationCall Number: 813.54 H6749c 2004

Kreytman, Ester. Deborah. New York: Femi-nist Press at the City University of New York, 2004.Location: Humanities, Social Science & EducationCall Number: 839.1 K889sE 2004

Laufer, Peter. Exodus to Berlin: The Return of the Jews to Germany. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2003.Location: Humanities, Social Science & EducationCall Number: 305.892404315509049 L366e 2003

Malino, Jonathan W., editor. Judaism and Modernity: The Religious Philosophy of David Hartman. Aldershot, Hampshire, England; Burlington, Vermont: Ashgate, c2004.Location: Humanities, Social Science & EducationCall Number: 269.3092 H255Z M295 2004

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Michlin, Gilbert. Of No Interest to the Na-tion: A Jewish Family in France, 1925-1945: A Memoir. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, c2004.Location: Humanities, Social Science & EducationCall Number: 940.53180920 M583B 2004

Parush, Iris. Reading Jewish Women: Mar-ginality and Modernization in Nineteenth-Century Eastern European Jewish Society. Waltham, Mass.: Brandeis University Press; Hanover: University Press of New England, c2004.Location: Humanities, Social Science & EducationCall Number: 305.48892404709034 P259nE 2004

Pelikan, Jaroslav Jan. Interpreting the Bible & the Constitution. New Haven: Yale University Press, c2004.Location: Humanities, Social Science & EducationCall Number: 220.601 P363i 2004

Rodgers, Peter. Herzl’s Nightmare: One Land, Two Peoples. Scribe Publications.Location: Humanities, Social Science & EducationCall Number: No call number available

Runions, Erin. How Hysterical: Identification and Resistance in the Bible and Film. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.Location: Humanities, Social Science & EducationCall Number: 791.436822 R873h 2003

Sacerdoti, Annie. The Guide to Jewish Italy. New York: Rizzoli, 2004.Location: Humanities, Social Science & EducationCall Number: 945.004924 Sa14g 2004

Schäfer, Peter. Mirror of His Beauty: Femi-nine Images of God from the Bible to the Early Kabbalah. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, c2002.Location: Humanities, Social Science & EducationCall Number: 291.2114 Sch14m 2002

Schwartz, Howard. Tree of Souls: The Mythol-ogy of Judaism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.

Location: Humanities, Social Science & Educa-tionCall Number: 296.1 Sch95t 2004

Shabtai, Yaakov. Uncle Peretz Takes Off: Short Stories. Woodstock, New York: Overlook Duck-worth, 2004.Location: Humanities, Social Sciences & Edu-cationCall Number: 892.436 Sh11u 2004

Slezkine, Yuri. The Jewish Century. Princeton: Princeton University Press, c2004.Location: UndergraduateCall Number: 940.04924 SL29j 2004

Wyschogrod, Michael. Abraham’s Promise: Judaism and Jewish-Christian Relations. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans, 2004.Location: Humanities, Social Science & Educa-tionCall Number: 296.3 W995a 2004

Yadin, Azzan. Scripture as Logos: Rabbi Ish-mael and the Origins of Midrash. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, c2004.Location: Humanities, Social Science & Educa-tionCall Number: 296.141 Ya105s 2004

2004 - 2005 Jewish Studies Prize WinnerBy Nikki J. Holdcroft

We are pleased to announce, on behalf of the awards committee of the Jewish Studies Program, that Ms. Michelle Carreon was named the winner of the “2004–2005 Purdue University B’nai B’rith Barzillai Lodge No. 111 Prize in Jewish Stud-ies.” Her paper, “Jewishness within the Realm of American Independent Film: An Analysis of Identity and Film as Activism,” examines identity and the notion of “Jewishness” within American independent film. Her analysis focused on two important independent films: “Hester Street” (1975) and “The Pawnbroker” (1964). She also makes the case that film as a medium is a strong form of activism (in this case, in Jewish Stud-ies) by discussing the dynamics of the art form and where film lies within the activism realm. Ms. Carreon presented a précis of her paper with an audio-visual presentation at a Jewish Studies

11 Number 75. Summer 2005

Jewish Studies Committee Members 2005

Janet Afary (History)Ann Astell (English) Sonia Barash (Foreign Languages & Literatures)Paul Benhamou (Foreign Languages & Literatures)Louis Beres (Political Science)Andrew Buckser (Sociology/Anthropology)Steven A. Carr (Communication-IUPU Fort Wayne)Michelle E. Carreon (Newsletter/Undergrad Rep.)Silvia Dapia (Foreign Languages & Literatures)Rachel Einwohner (Sociology/Anthropology)Wendy Flory (English)Dan Frank (Philosophy)Alan Garfinkel (Foreign Languages & Literatures)Sandor Goodhart (English)Joseph Haberer (Political Science -Emeritus)Nina Haberer (SLA Academic Advisor)Dara Hill (Graduate Student Rep.)Saul Lerner (History/Political Science)

Maren Linett (English)Martin Matusik (Philosophy)Robert Melson (Political Science)Gordon Mork (History)Daniel Morris (English)Larry Mykytiuk (HSSE/LIB)Victor Raskin (English)Stuart Robertson (Foreign Languages & Literatures)Thomas Ryba (St. Thomas Aquinas Center)David Sanders (Biology)Philip Schlossberg (Director, Hillel Foundation)Laura Shumar (Graduate Student Rep.)Edward Simon (Biology)Jennifer William (Foreign Languages & Literatures)Gordon D. Young (History)

Purdue University Jewish Studies Program

Director: Daniel H. FrankAssistant to the Director: Alice WengerNewsletter Editor: Michelle E. Carreon

Shofar StaffEditors: Daniel Morris, Zev GarberManaging Editor: Nancy LeinBook Review Editor: Joseph Haberer

Beering Hall of Liberal Arts and Education Room 6166100 N. University StreetWest Lafayette, IN 47907-2067(765) 494-7965 Fax: (765) 496-3633E-mail: jewishstudies@purdue.eduWebsite: http://www.cla.purdue.edu/academic/idis/jewish-studies/

Noon Lecture Series on Wednesday September 7, 2005. A video copy of the lecture (among other JSP past lectures) is available for viewing through the Jewish Studies office.

Michelle comes to Purdue University from El Paso, Texas. She is a senior double majoring in English and Interdisciplinary Film/Video Studies. Michelle is also a Jewish Studies minor. She plans to pursue a graduate degree in cinema studies, and hopes to one day produce independent film all the while focus-ing on activism through her art. She is the current Newsletter Editor for the Jewish Studies Program, and she is an invaluable member of our program. She is also a founder and the current Vice President of the Purdue University Independent Film Club, as well as a filmmaker herself.

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