It's Coming Together!

BEYOND KRISTALLNACHT
November 7-9, Quad Cities

Today, we finalized some important details.
Victoria Barnett (read about her here:) whose field is bystanders will speak at the 7:30 Temple Emanuel Service on Friday, November 7. Her topic will be something like: Bystanders to Genocide, then and now.

She will repeat that sermon at Tri City Jewish Center's 10:30 (ish) service Saturday morning.

Victoria will stay around for Martin Doblmeier's presentation of Bonhoeffer (one hour version) at the Figge Art Museum Saturday evening. An opening reception will be held to present the prints by Erwin Eisch related to the Shoah (see them here). Music is still being worked out for that event.

Dr. Alan Goldfarb, president of Western Illinois University, has been invited to speak with Martin and Victoria after the film.

Workshops will be held on Sunday, November 9 from 2-4 p.m. at TriCity Jewish Center.
We have five topics:
Poetry of Witness, Professor Rebecca Wee, Augustana College (invited).
The Church and Shoah (speaker/facilitator to be determined).
The Impact of the Holocaust on Literature: A Book Talk with Paul Ingraham of Prairie Lights Books
From Kristallnacht to Darfur, Rabbi Henry Karp, Temple Emanuel
God after the Holocaust, Rabbi Michael Samuel and Professor Joe DeFrancisco, St. Ambrose University (invited).

So far, we have received $1500 from the Doris and Victor Day Foundation.
We have received $2500. from the Illinois Humanities Council.
We have an application for 2500 pending before the Riverboat Development Authority
The Diocese, the Jewish Federation, the temples, the Unitarian Church and others will be approached as well.

Learn more at http://beyondkristallnacht.blogspot.com/
Peace, Roger

Overview of the Plans

We are bringing in Martin Doblmeier, award winning filmmaker, whose film Bonhoeffer is simply outstanding. We will show that movie at the Figge on November 8th, a Saturday. He and a panel will speak after the film.

We are also bringing in Victoria Barnett. She is the Director of Church Relations at the US Holocaust Museum in Washington. Her publisher is Oxford and her specialty is the idea of Bystanders. She will be presenting services at Temple on Friday November 7th and at Tri City Jewish on Saturday morning the 8th.

Here is the schedule:
Friday evening. November 7, 2008
Victoria Barnett at Temple Emanuel, Davenport, Iowa
Henry Karp, Rabbi.

Saturday morning. November 8, 2008
Victoria Barnett at Tri-City Jewish Center, Rock Island Illinois
Michael Samuel, Rabbi.

Saturday evening: 6 p.m. - 7 p.m.
Figge Art Museum
(unveiling of Eisch prints related to Kristallnacht)
7 p.m.- 8 p.m. Bonhoeffer, the Movie
8-9 Panel Discussion:
Martin Doblmeier, Filmmaker (confirmed)
Victoria Barnett, scholar (confirmed)
Dr. Alan Goldfarb, President Western Illinois University (invited).

Sunday: 2-4 p.m.
Workshops at Tri-City Jewish Center:
Poetry of Witness, Professor Rebecca Wee, Augustana College (will be invited)
The Church and The Shoah (workshop leader to be determined)
Books about the Shoah and Kristallnacht (Paul Ingraham, Prairie Lights, Iowa City)
others--art; bystanders, etc, etc are possibilities

We are hoping to build a set at the Center that might be
constructed to resemble a street during kristallnacht.

Tuesday, November 11
German American Heritage Center book discussion: Kristallnacht by M. Gilbert


Serving on the committee:
Rabbi Henry Karp, Temple Emanuel
Sam Gilman, chair of the Day and Rausch Foundations
Rabbi Michael Samuel, Tri City Jewish Center
Sean O'Harrow, Figge Art Museum
Ron Quay, Churches United
Dr. Art Pitz, historian
Bill Zessar
Ida Kramer
Allan Ross, Jewish Federation
John Kiley, Diocese of Davenport
Marrietta Cassell, education consultant
Chuck Robovits
Rick Weinstein, chair, Yom HaShoah
Rev. Don Johnson, Destiny Baptist
Kai Swanson, Augustana College
Michael Hustedde, St. Ambrose (and German American Heritage Center)

May Minute Meetings

KRISTALLNACHT REMEMBRANCE PLANNING COMMITTEE
May 14, 2008 Meeting Notes – Unitarian Church

Members Present: Henry Karp, Roger Butts, Rick Weinstein, Kai Swanson, Alan Ross, Marietta Castle, Sean O’Harrow, Ron Quay.

John Kiley from the Diocese of Davenport was unable to attend the meeting.

Roger served as Convener and invited the committee to review the planned agenda for the meeting. The Agenda was approved with the addition of a focus on funding needs and opportunities.

The Minutes of the April meeting were reviewed and approved with the correction on the spelling of Martin Doblmeier’s name.

Review of the Weekend Plans:
Friday evening Vicki Barnett from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum will be at the weekly worship services at Temple Emanuel.

Saturday morning she will be at the Tri-City Jewish Center for their services. In both instances the larger Quad Cities community is invited to participate.

Saturday evening Vicki Barnett and Martin Doblmeier will be at the Figge Art Museum. The evening will include, assuming the funding can be secured, a showing of prints depicting Kristallnacht. Accompanying the showing will be a chamber music offering as background music while guests enjoy refreshments and view the prints.

At 7:00 p.m. there will be a showing of the film by Martin Doblmeier presenting the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer entitled Bonhoeffer. The film will be followed with a panel discussion including Mr. Doblmeier and Ms. Barnett along one or two others from the Quad Cities community.

Sunday afternoon will offer a series of workshops which Henry Karp presented similar to a planned workshop series for 2007 Kristallnacht that did not happen. The committee discussed the format and agreed that the workshop format was the preferred option. It is the committee’s desire that we plan for around 100 people in attendance and that we offer 4-5 workshop which each could be offered twice so that people could decide which two they would visit during the afternoon.

It was hoped that possibly a first hand look at a street following the Kristallnacht attacks could be built in the gym of the Center.

Workshop options that were discussed included:

· Poetry of Witness with Rebecca Wie
· Art & Writing
· The Church and Christianity’s role in these events – The faith communities role in genocides then and now
· Civil Liberties with a lawyer from UICHR in Iowa City
· Confronting Hate
· Identities and Power of Fear
· The power of the small deed

Alan reported on the funding requests that were being made. He will follow-up with a logo once some of the grants are decided.

Kai will send out a short descriptive piece that could be used in area faith communities and elsewhere.

The next meeting of this planning committee is set for Wednesday, June 11th at 11:30 a.m. We will again meet at the Unitarian Church, Davenport.

Respectfully submitted,


Ronald C. Quay, Temporary Secretary for the Committee

April meeting minutes

The Kristallnacht Committee met at the Unitarian Church on Thursday, April 17 at 11:30 a.m.

John Kiley was welcomed to the group. John is the Social Action Director the the Diocese of Davenport.

It was announced that Sean O'Harrow would also be joining us. He is the Director of the Figge Art Museum.

The roll of secretary was discussed. It was agreed that everyone would take turns. Rabbi Henry Jay Karp volunteered for this meet.

CONFIRMATION OF SPEAKERS:

Martin Doblemeier has agreed to come and will be showing his film "Bonhoeffer". The film will be shown on Saturday night, (11/8/08), after Shabbat. We discussed the possibility of showing it at the Figge. We also discussed having a panel discussion accompany the film, perhaps inviting Dr. Alan Goldfarb to be a member of the panel.

Victoria Barnett, of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum will also be participating. NOTE: Since the meeting, she has asked Roger if it would be all right for her to stay through to attend the Doblemeier program. If she does, we should consider her for serving on the panel.

Alan Ross reported that he will request $4,000.00 from the Scott Country Regional Authority for the art prints. This request is due 5/15/08. The Figge has agreed top host the exhibit and permanently house it there. Rabbi Samuel suggested selling reproductions. According to his calculations, the budget for the entire weekend event should run about $12,000.00. He is looking at other sources for the balance of the funds.

A draft of the outline of the weekend was drawn up:

Friday evening - Temple - Vicki Barnett will speak.
Saturday morning - Center - Vicki Barnett will speak
Saturday - 7-9:p.m. - Food, prints, Music, Movie, & panel.
Discussion held about how to make the music and the food available.
6-7:p.m. - Chamber music, prints and food (appetizers)
7-8:p.m - Movie
8:15-9:p.m. - Panel Discussion
Layout of Sunday to be determined at the next committee meeting

Marrietta discussed the possibility of a Teachers Workshop in the Summer, at the Figge.

AGENDA FOR NEXT MEETING:
Sunday program
Publicity
QC Reads
Logo (Alan)
Finalize panel
Reservations at the Figge (Roger)

Respectfully submitted,

Rabbi Henry Jay Karp

Victoria Barnett and Martin Doblmeier Confirmed

Great News!
Victoria Barnett, the director of Church Relations at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, has confirmed that she is attending the 70th anniversary commemoration in the Quad Cities.

Martin Doblmeier, the filmmaker behind Bonhoeffer, has confirmed that he will be at our commemoration.

Exciting news indeed. More to come on specifics about the plans for these two outstanding additions to our event.

Different Trains

This chamber music piece was written by Steve Reich as a remembrance of the Shoah. Have a listen.

Different Trains: "1. Triple Quartet: I - Steve Reich / The Smith Quartet
2. Triple Quartet: II - Steve Reich / The Smith Quartet
3. Triple Quartet: III - Steve Reich / The Smith Quartet
4. Triple Quartet Duet - Steve Reich / The Smith Quartet
5. Different Trains: America - Before The War - Steve Reich / The Smith Quartet
6. Different Trains: Europe - During The War - Steve Reich / The Smith Quartet
7. Different Trains: After The War - Steve Reich / The Smith Quartet"

First Meeting Notes

Kristallnacht 70

First meeting notes.
March 20, 2008
Unitarian Church
11:30 a.m.
NEXT MEETING: APRIL 17th, 11:30 a.m. Unitarian Church, 3707 Eastern Avenue, Davenport

Our event's name: “Beyond Kristallnacht: Lessons for today”
(The night of broken glass)

The dates for the 70th anniversary observation
November 7-9, 2008

In attendance
Rabbi Henry Karp
Bill Zessar
Allan Ross
Rabbi Michael Samuel
Rev. Ron Quay
Rick Weinstein
Marietta Castle
Ida Kramer
Rev. Roger Butts

Some thoughts about why this is important, or why people have come together for this project:
**Rabbi Karp: More education events in the QCA about the holocaust. With a spring event—Yom HaShoah service and a fall event—Kristallnacht, we’ll hopefully build momentum for the other. Plus, it will be good to have an event that will not be the same as Yom HaShoah (i.e., a service).
**Bill Zessar: Committed to any event that relates to holocaust awareness.
**Allan Ross: Father was 26 years old when Kristallnacht took place. His big concern: How does Kristallnacht affect us today? What should we be doing today?
**Rabbi Michael Samuel: There is always talk of six million victims. He wants it known that there are more like 24 million victims of Nazi hatred. He also wants to bring to light the terrible loss—what scientists, philosophers, poets were killed before their time…
**Rev. Ron Quay—an American Baptist pastor (and head of Churches United of the QCA), he wants the church to wrestle with its historic role of anti-semitism. When you are a dominant cultural expression (e.g., the Christian church), there are many missed chances to see, notice and appreciate the other.
**Rick Weinstein—Increasingly sensitive to the idea that the generation of first hand witnesses are beginning to thin out. So we bear witness as we can. Yom HaShoah, which he chairs, gives voice to the aftermath—voice to the survivors of the carnage. Kristallnacht is an opportunity to give voice to the opening salvo in the Shoah.
**Marietta Castle. My late husband was born on the night of Kristallnacht, so while his parents were celebrating, in Europe there was crisis and chaos. She has a deep personal connection to this issue.
**Ida Kramer. Lost a cousin in the holocaust. Is deeply involved in these issues.

2. Is this worth doing?
Everyone agreed that this is worth doing.

3. Dates:
November 7-9.
Rabbi Karp explained that we wanted to do a whole weekend of events, culminating in a Sunday afternoon series of workshops about what to do now. Starting Friday at a Temple Emanuel service, including a Saturday evening showing of Bonhoeffer and concluding on Sunday.

Venues:
The Figge auditorium was mentioned as a possibility for showing the film. The Figge was also mentioned as showing a series of prints (10) by an artist Erwin Eisch, whose work covers Kristallnacht.

Temple Emanuel, Tri City Jewish Center, Schools

There was a long discussion about involving the public schools. It was decided that Marietta Castle would chair this subcommittee and that Ida, Art and others would be recruited to help. It was also mentioned that perhaps a consultant could be found who knows how to gain entrance into the school system, a kind of social studies coordinator.

5. Audience/Publicity. We did not talk much about this question. Other than the audience of the whole community and the school children.

During the conversation about having Victoria Barnett speak in Temple Emanuel as part of Friday night service and/or Tri City Jewish Center on Saturday morning, Rev. Quay mentioned that it might be intimidating for Christians to go to that site. It was suggested that we should provide another opportunity for Victoria to speak to a broader audience if she was agreeable to that. See below for more information.

6. Some possibilities:
Martin Doblmeier. Martin is the PBS documentarian whose movies Bonhoeffer and the Power of Forgiveness have been warmly received by critics, as well as the Quad Cities. More than a capacity crowd gathered to watch his movie the Power of Forgiveness at an auditorium at Augustana last year. A wide range of faith leaders were involved in that showing—including Rabbi Karp, Rev. Quay, Rev. Peter Marty, Rev. Becky David and others. It was a powerful experience. Martin has agreed to come to show his movie Bonhoeffer to the Quad Cities on Saturday, March 8, in the evening.

Victoria Barnett (invited). Victoria is a leading scholar on “Bystanders.” She is the director of church relations at the US Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. She is considering our invitation.

Allan Ross is in conversation with Sean O’Harrow, Ph.D. director of the Figge Art Museum to house a series of 10 prints by Erwin Eisch. (An example of his work can be found here...
http://www.turchincenter.org/exhibits.detail.php4?exhibitsid=54)

School outreach will be conducted by the education subcommittee, headed up by Marietta. This includes the possibility of a teacher workshop on kristallnacht, and a teacher’s kit. Rabbi Samuel discussed the possibility of an essay contest with prize.
Travel the exhibit at the Figge to the schools?
If we involve a teacher’s workshop, Allan suggested perhaps they could get continuing ed credit.

There is an outside shot at getting David Bowlin (Oberlin Conservatory; Director, Chamber Music Quad Cities) to put together a performance of Different Trains (See post on First Meeting Packet for additional information.)

8. Who else should be at the table:
Sean O’Harrow, Ph.D. (Marietta will invite.)
John Kiley, Catholic Diocese. Rabbi Karp will invite.

ACTION ITEMS
Allan Ross will work on grants from RDA and Scott County…
We need a secretary for the next meeting.
We need an education subcommittee.
We need to get a specific invitation to Art.
We need to have a focus for each meeting.

NEXT MEETING: April 17, 11:30 a.m., Unitarian Church Davenport (3707 Eastern Avenue).