Communication Associate: Public Relations | Lori Melton | lmelton@d.umn.edu | (218) 726-8830
March 26, 2013 Deborah Petersen-Perlman | Associate Professor | Department of Communication | 218-726-7528| dpeters1@d.umn.edu
Kathleen McQuillan-Hofmann | Communication Associate | External Affairs | 218 726-7111 | kmcquill@d.umn.edu
UMD's Baeumler Kaplan Holocaust Commemoration: "Recognizing an Unsung Hero"
DULUTH, MN – This year's Baeumler Kaplan Holocaust Commemoration honors the
work of a relatively unknown American journalist. Varian Fry was a well-educated
antifascist who arrived in Marseille in the autumn of 1940, determined to be of
assistance to Europe's intellectual elite. His efforts resulted in the rescue of well
over 1500 artists, writers, and philosophers, including Marc Chagall, Hannah Arendt,
and sculptor, Jacques Lipchitz, whose work Sieur du Lhut (Sir Du Luth) presides over
UMD's Ordean Court. All Baeumler Kaplan Holocaust Commemoration events are
free and open to the public.
On Monday, April 15, award-winning journalist, author, and adjunct faculty member
at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Sheila Isenberg will present "Mission
Impossible: Varian Fry in Marseille" at 4:30 pm in Montague 70. The St. Louis Post
Dispatch named Isenberg's book, A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry, one
of the best books of 2001. Isenberg's 2011 book, Muriel's War, also deals with
a Holocaust-era story. Both books will be available for purchase at Isenberg's
presentation.
On Thursday, April 18, at noon, the Royal D. Alworth, Jr. Institute for International Studies
will co-sponsor a brown bag presentation on "Nazi Concentration Camps: Sadism
and Strategies for Cultural Annihilation," in the UMD Library Rotunda. Over this
past winter break, Deborah Petersen-Perlman, associate professor in the UMD
Communication Department, and Cindy Christian, director of the Alworth Institute,
traveled to Nazi concentration camps in Europe.
The Jewish ghetto in the city of Terezin, in the Czech Republic, was used by the Nazis as propaganda to convince the world that Hitler had established a city for the Jews
to protect them from the war. The best known and most notorious of the death
camps was Auschwitz, in Poland. At least 960,000 Jews, as well as other prisoners,
were killed at this notorious labor and death camp. In Germany, Ravensbruck
served as the major camp for women. This was a personal trip for both Petersen-
Perlman and Christian, and they will share their reactions and reflections, as well as
provide information about the camps.
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