Dear Friends and Colleagues, I hope you've had a lovely, restorative first seder! Some of you have used excerpts from my work in the past for holidays - like "Fingerprints-- After 9/11," or my combined tribute last year to the Warsaw Ghetto Freedom Fighters for Yom Ha Shoah/Pesach.
I'd like now to share something very close to me for Yom Ha Shoah. It is a core, personal excerpt from my dissertation at the University of Chicago, and--when finished-- it--my upcoming book, "WORK MAKES FREE": THE HIDDEN CULTURAL MEANINGS OF THE HOLOCAUST. I've attached it as a PDF. It was included by Pulitzer prize winning composer, Shulamit Ran, in the original score of her composition, "Credo Ani Ma'amin." Do please let me know if anyone should like to make use of it. Please include an attribution. Hag Sameach, and a meaningful upcoming Yom Ha Shoah, Jud Jud Newborn, Ph.D. Lecturer, Author, Curator 12 Mitchell Avenue Plainview, NY 11803 USA Tel.: 516-931-7796 E-mail: <mailto:jne...@aol.com>jne...@aol.com "I HAVE BEFORE ME, ON A SHELF. . . ." Excerpt from "WORK MAKES FREE: The Hidden Cultural Meanings of the Holocaust By Jud Newborn, Ph.D. I have before me, on a shelf, something I brought back from the fielda little plastic film container with ash from Auschwitz Crematorium Number V, located deep inside the camp complex. I gathered it at the end of a long and numbing visit, when dusk was already descending. As a consequence I was locked into Auschwitz-Birkenau that night and had to scale a tall fence to get out, my heart beating wildly. I later discovered a small bone amongst the ash. I've been told it's from a child's finger. I brought it back with me so that during the writing process I should never lose sight of that "irreducible reality" which I was struggling so hard to account for. I really shouldn't have it. I must bring it to a rabbi and have it buried. * * * * * [This core passage from Dr. Newborn's dissertation for the University of Chicago's Anthropology Department was used by Pulitizer Prize winning composer Shulamit Ran in the original score of her chorale work, "Credo-Ani Ma'amin."] JUD NEWBORN, Ph.D. is a New York-based author, dramatic lecturer & expert on extremism, anti-Semitism & the fight for freedom & our shared humanity. He is also a poet and lyricist who has collaborated with top composers & songwriters. Dr. Newborn was educated at NYU, Clare Hall, Cambridge, and the University of Chicago, where he received his doctorate with Distinction. A pioneer in the creation of Holocaust museums, Dr. Newborn served as Founding Historian & Special Curator for NY's Museum of Jewish Heritage. Co-author of Sophie Scholl and the White Rose , companion to the Oscarnominated German film, Sophie Scholl: The Final days, Dr. Newborn has written for The New York Times & The Jerusalem Post among other leading publications. He has lectured coastto- coast, from L.A.'s Wiesenthal Center, San Diego's Old Globe Theater & major universities, to NY's National Arts Club, the United Nations, & from Canada to Cape Town. He has also appeared as an expert on major news venues, from the CBS News to NPR's All Things Considered . Dr. Newborn consults as curator for renowned institutions, including L.I.'s Cinema Arts Centre. Excerpt from "Work Makes Free": The Hidden Cultural Meanings of the Holocaust , by Jud Newborn Diss., University of Chicago, © Jud Newborn, 1994, 2009 --- Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: hasaf...@osu.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
