Jewish history

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• SOURCE: Inside Higher Ed
  4/15/2021
  

  Scholars Fear Impact of Poland's Law on the Holocaust

  Poland's right-wing government has sought to promote a narrative of national victimhood by the forces of Nazism and Communism. Historians who study the participation or complicity of Poles in the Holocaust face a threat of legal action that historian Audrey Kichelewski says is chilling. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  3/30/2021
  

  Philip Roth Was His Own Favorite Subject. What’s Left for a Biographer?

  Blake Bailey's new biography of the novelist Philip Roth represented a challenge not least because of Roth's notorious resistance to getting the biographical treatment, but also because of the weakness of the literary biographical tradition in American letters. 

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• SOURCE: Public Books
  4/6/2021
  

  Philanthropy and the “Jewish Continuity Crisis”

  by Hadas Binyamini

  The particular focus of some large Jewish philanthropic organizations on promoting Zionism and denouncing intermarriage reflects changes in the broader philanthropic universe: private wealth supplanting the welfare state, and rules encouraging charities to invest and amass wealth, and the focus on nuclear families as social units.

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• 4/4/2021
  

  Hidden Stories of Jewish Resistance in Poland

  by Judy Batalion

  I was fascinated by the widespread resistance efforts of Polish Jews, but equally by their absence from current understandings of the war. Of all the legions of Holocaust tales, what had happened to this one?

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  3/18/2021
  

  The Nazi-Fighting Women of the Jewish Resistance

  by Judy Batalion

  "I was raised in a community of Holocaust survivors and had earned a doctorate in women’s history. Why had I never heard these stories?"

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  3/16/2021
  

  Israel Reveals Newly Discovered Fragments of Dead Sea Scrolls

  These are the first new parchment fragments unearthed in Judea in 60 years. 

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• SOURCE: Go Upstate
  3/16/2021
  

  Digging into the History of the Former Dixie Shirt Textile Business in Spartanburg

  Founded by an immigrant Jewish family who moved to Spartanburg from New York City, the Dixie Shirt Company connected the histories of American Jews, labor, industry, and war mobilization in the South. Furman historian Diane Vecchio uncovered the story as part of a plan to redevelop the site. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  3/10/2021
  

  Is a Long-Dismissed Forgery Actually the Oldest Known Biblical Manuscript?

  Idan Dershowitz claims that a manuscript fragment denounced as a forgery in 1883 is authentic and is a precursor document to the book of Deuteronomy. If he's right, it would be the oldest known biblical manuscript. 

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• 3/14/2021
  

  Attacking Critical Race Theory: A Modern Campaign of Conversion?

  by Guy Lancaster

  There is a recurrent idea among political elites that particular ideas are the wellspring of social discord and strife, and that ridding society of the idea will usher in unity. The Talmud and the 1619 Project have filled similar roles in different eras.

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• SOURCE: My Jewish Learning
  2/15/2021
  

  Jewish Refugee Scholars at Black Colleges

  The work of European Jewish academics at Historically Black Colleges in the United States is an underrecognized part of both Black and Jewish American history; many prominent African Americans were students of refugee professors. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  2/15/2021
  

  They Survived the Holocaust. Now they’ve Come Together to Endure the Pandemic

  A Jewish historical institute in Vienna has worked to protect the health of vulnerable Holocaust survivors, but it's found the work of preserving social contact and sharing stories just as vital. 

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• SOURCE: Wall Street Journal
  3/3/2021
  

  Supreme Court Denies Holocaust Victims’ Property Claims Against Nazi Germany, Hungary

  The Supreme Court ruled that despite the evidence of the theft of property from victims of the Holocaust, their descendants could not seek relief against the German government by invoking international law in a U.S. Court. 

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  1/21/2021
  

  Georgia’s New Senators will Write the Next Chapter in Black-Jewish Relations

  by Jeff Melnick

  The history of the Leo Frank trial and lynching shows that, while both groups have faced prejudice and discrimination, "the glory of Black-Jewish relations has always been more aspirational than achieved." Georgia's two new senators have a chance to advance a coalition for progress and equity.

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• SOURCE: Forward
  12/20/2020
  

  Brandeis U. Press and a Historian Split over how to Talk about Jews and White Supremacy

  The racial justice protests of 2020 pushed up sales of Marc Dollinger's book on political relationships between Jewish and African American groups. But Brandeis University Press has balked at publishing a new introductory essay that suggests American Jews need to acknowledge and confront their privileges as white Americans.

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• SOURCE: Times of Israel
  12/19/2020
  

  Historian: Polish Society Shunned Jewish Survivors Returning From Nazi Camps

  Historian Lukasz Krzyzanowski argues that most Poles today are “unwilling to accept the bitter fact that they live in a post-genocidal land.”

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• SOURCE: Haaretz
  12/6/2020
  

  How Hanukkah Returned to Amsterdam’s Royal Concert Hall Decades After the Holocaust

  The annual Hanukkah concert at the Royal Concert Hall in Amsterdam resumed in 2015 after a hiatus that began with Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Many Dutch Jews hope that the event will support unity in a community that is diverse in terms of observance and smaller in number than it was in 1946.

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• SOURCE: Forward
  11/19/2020
  

  Effi Eitam Leading Yad Vashem Disgraces the Memory of the 6 Million

  by Derek Penslar and Susannah Heschel

  "The politicization and radicalization of the institution will rob it of its legitimacy. Yad Vashem cannot fulfill its responsibilities with Effi Eitam at its helm."

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• SOURCE: Jerusalem Post
  11/15/2020
  

  Dozens Of Academics Oppose New Controversial Yad Vashem Chair

  Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt is among the academics criticizing the appointment of a right-wing politician to head the Israeli Holocaust memorial and educational center, arguing that his remarks toward Palestinians and Arab Israelis are disqualifying. 

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• SOURCE: The Nation
  11/16/2020
  

  The Impresarios of Trent: The Long and Frightening History of the Blood Libel (review)

  Magda Teter's new book examines the history of the pernicious antisemitic myth, its cultivation by Christian authorities, and its amplification by the growth of print and literacy in renaissance Europe.

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• SOURCE: Haaretz
  11/8/2020
  

  Revered Polish Jew, Holocaust Survivor Joins Protests Over Top Appointment at Yad Vashem

  A prominent Polish Holocaust survivor has objected to the appointment of Effi Eitam, an Israeli politician and former military commander, to chair the directorate of the Holocaust memorial because of inflammatory statements calling for the deportation of Palestinans from the West Bank and calling Arab Israelis a "fifth column."