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Tuesday, October 29, 2002 at 7:30 PM Congregation Beth Breira 9400 SW 87 Avenue, Miami   Admission $5.00

"From The Holocaust To Hoean's Heroes" Guest Speaker: Robert Clary Most Americans remember him for his portrayal of Corporal Louis Lebeau on the Hogan's Heroes, but Robert Clary's life spans far beyond his career as a television actor. Born Robert Widerman in Paris in 1926, in 1942 he was deported with his family to a Nazi concentration camp, but was miraculously liberated from Buchenwald in 1945. Clary was the only one of thirteen deported family members to survive. Now a national spokesperson for the Wiesenthal Center and the Shoah Foundation, Clary Continues to inspire audiences with his rags-to-riches survivor story. "The Brijiade: An Epic Story of Venjeance Salvation and WWII" Guest Speaker: Howard Blum Although the official history of the Jewish Brigade (a unit of some 5,000 Jews who fought with the British Eight Army in Italy in the waning months of WWII) has been written, Howard Blum breaks new ground by looking into the clandestine operation that occurred after the shooting had stopped. Once they learned of the true extent of the Holocaust, soldiers of the brigade began using intelligence reports to pinpoint the location of former SS officers. The enraged Jewish troops took vengeance into their own hands. Blum, Twice nominated for a Pulitzer Prize as New York Times investigative reporter, and now a Vanity Fair contributing editor, presents the material masterfully, building suspense and carefully documenting all the action.

Thursday, October 31st, 2002 at 7:30 PM Temple Emanu-El of Geater Miami 1701 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach   Admission: Free

"The Optimists The Story of the Rescue of the Bulgarian Jews From the Holocaust" A film by Jacky and Lisa Comforty, tells the virtually unknown story of how the fifty-thousand Jews living in Bulgaria survived the Holocaust despite intensive efforts by the Bulgarian government to deport them to the death camps. The Optimists explores how different ethnic and religious groups stood by each other in Bulgaria during the Holocaust. It is directed by award-winning filmmaker, Jacky Comforty, whose family was among those rescued. Bulgaria's experience offers valuable insight into how we can mobilize to protect human and civil rights. It is not only a Jewish story. It is a universal one, powerful in its ability to inspire religious tolerance, civil courage and optimism in all audiences. Winner of the CINE Golden Eagle, 2001, Co-Winner of the Peace Prize, Berlin Int'l Film Festival, First Prize Winner Documenting "The Jewish Experience"; Jerusalem Int'l Film Festival. Director/ Producer Jacky Comforty will be attending this special showing.

Tuesday, November 5, 2002 at 7:30 PM Temple Emanu-El of Geater Miami 1701 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach   Admission: Free

"Art and Architecture in Holocaust Memory" Guest Speaker: Kenneth Treister, FAIA "The totality of the Holocaust can not be created in stone and bronze ...but 1 had to try. The rich diversity of the European culture, now lost, cannot be expressed... but I had to try. The murder of one and one half million children show joys turned to sorrow suddenly on September 1, 1939, when World War II broke out, cannot be sculpted. .. but I had to try. Six million moments of death cannot be understood. .. but we must all try." Kenneth Treister, FAIA, is an award-winning international Architect and Sculptor, whose work has been featured in leading art and architecture journals world wide. He was honored with a Fellowship by the National American Institute of Architects at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC in 1990. He is the Sculptor, Designer and Architect of the internationally acclaimed Holocaust Memorial on Miami Beach, The Gumenick Chapel at Temple Israel and the newly renovated Temple Emanu-El of Greater Miami. Mr. Treister will speak about the use of Art and Architecture to portray and create artistic expression of the Holocaust, in the hope of enabling more people to be emotionally and intellectually involved in the experience of this human tragedy.

Thursday, November 7, 2002 at 7:30 PM Cuban Hebrew Congregation-Beth Shmuel 1700 Michigan Avenue, Miami Beach   Admission: Free

"Undying Flame: Ballads and Songs of the Holocaust" Guest Speaker: Jerry Silverman Mr. Silverman, an outstanding folk singer, has created a major work in the field of Holocaust scholarship, which contains 110 songs in 16 languages. The songs include the work of concentration camp prisoners and inhabitants of the ghettos of Eastern Europe and anti-fascist anthems inspired by Spanish Civil war, Red Army songs and songs of Resistance Fighters. The songs will be performed by Jerry Silverman, guitar teacher and prolific author of music books. He has published over 200 books, including folk song collections, anthologies and method books for guitar, banjo and fiddle. He has performed in folksong concerts at schools, universities and concert halls here and abroad. The Jerry Silverman concert/lecture program is based on the material in "The Undying Flame," which presents many of these rare and moving songs for the first time ever.

Thursday, November 14, 2002 at 7:30 PM Temple Beth Sholom 4144 Chase Avenue, Miami Beach   Admission: Free

"Contemporary Artistic Resistance and the Holocaust" A stirring exhibit of artistic testimonials by two contemporary artists who strive to remember and learn from the realities of the Holocaust. The show includes original works by Argentinean painter, Adrian Levy Memun and Venezuelan artist, Cecilia Hecht. Through the eyes of his grandfather, Memum depicts barbed wire, the courageous prisoners, stoic yet innocent children and the butterflies of hope. Many of these paintings were inspired by the artist's visit to the concentration camp, Majdanek. Artist, Hecht, approaches the subject of the Holocaust with a great deal of empathy and compassion. Her desire to understand the suffering that occurs as a result of war, extermination, religious or ethnic persecutions inspires the healing of the human spirit. Her art depicts the human condition, the quest for spiritual redemption and her dream for a better world. The exhibition will remain open throughout the month of November.

Sunday, November 24, 2002 at 6:00 PM Holocaust Memorial 1933-1945 Meridian Avenue, Miami Beach   Admission: Free

"Commemorating Kristallnacht": 64 Years after The Night of Broken Glass, Can History Repeat Itself? The Holocaust did not suddenly and without warning come about. Rather, it was the culmination of a series of actions that should have alerted the world to the rise of a new kind of ideology and a brutal regime that would unleash state organized and nation-wide pogroms. On November 9-10 1938, hundreds of synagogues, businesses and other properties owned by Jews in Germany and Austria were vandalized, looted and burned down. Jewish cemeteries were desecrated and thousands of Jewish men were arrested. Kristallnacht:"The Night of Broken Glass," was the prelude to what shortly became a state-sponsored persecution and murder of more than six million Jewish men, women and children throughout Europe. During these years, few individuals or organizations within the United States and the world even protested these terrible crimes let alone took action to stop them. And so the tragedy of the Holocaust came about. Please join us for a unique gathering at the Holocaust Memorial on Miami Beach to participate in this special program commemorating that fateful night which led to the destruction of Jewish life in Europe. In light of the recent rise of anti-Semitism around the world, it is our duty and our obligation to learn the lessons of past history.