Press

By Janet Ward at University of Oklahoma for The Journal of Holocaust Research

The six contributions to Volume 35, Number 2 of The Journal of Holocaust Research (2021), ‘Confronting Hatred: Neo-Nazism, Antisemitism, and Holocaust Studies Today,’ were first presented at events organized by Janet Ward (University of Oklahoma) and Gavriel Rosenfeld (Fairfield University), including a seminar at a conference of the German Studies Association (October 2019, in Portland, Oregon), and a roundtable at the American Historical Association’s annual meeting (January 2020, in New York City). By inviting a group of German and American scholars to collaborate and explore the complicated continuities between the fascist past and today, amid the rise of populism, racism, antisemitism, and white ethno-nationalism in the United States, Germany, and beyond, we deepened our collective understanding of the connections and challenges for our teaching, scholarship, and public outreach. Mindful of the need for a more effective scholar-activist approach, this JHR special issue offers the first grouping of research emanating from our discussions; and our other, equally urgent focus, ‘Fascism in America, Past and Present,’ is currently a work-in-progress (coedited by Gavriel Rosenfeld and Janet Ward).

As appearing in https://mariocastelnuovotedesco.com/

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco is among the men and women featured in Exile and Creativity, a volume of essays inspired by a series of programs held in 2017-18 by the Italian Cultural Institute in New York jointly with Centro Primo Levi. The essays examine the lives of intellectuals, artists, and scientists who were forced into or chose exile during the Fascist era.  Among those highlighted in the book are the Nobel-prize winning physicist Enrico Fermi, the sculptor Costantino Nivola, the writer and cultural figure Amelia Rosselli, and the legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini. 

Alexis Herr The Guardians of Memory and the Return of the Xenophobic Right (CPL Editions 2020) by Valentina Pisanty addresses the dramatic rise in racism and intolerance among countries where memory of the Holocaust is pursued with the greatest vigor and,…

One spring day in 1937, two Italian men were found murdered on a country road in Normandy; their carotid arteries had been severed. Carlo Rosselli and his younger brother Nello had fled to France from Fascist Italy.

The Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty of Italy is over two thou­sand years old, and yet, when Eleanor Foa’s father tried to explain their Ital­ian Jew­ish her­itage, it was always a strug­gle.

We all have stories in our archives.  We know it is best to bring the stories out, for people to hear and see them.  But how?  One idea:   Involve the narrator, maybe she or he will have an idea.  That was the case in a recent event in New York

Leo Yeni, an Artist’s Paper Life, presented by NYU Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò in collaboration with Centro Primo Levi showcases the life and struggles of a man through his art. To some, the show, curated by Cynthia Madansky, is an interesting look into the mind of the artist, who like many other Italian jews was abandoned by his country, to others such as Lillian Spiegel, it’s one more step towards giving Leo what he never managed to obtain during his lifetime, Italian citizenship.

In unconventional exhibit, the public is encouraged not only to touch the displays but to converse with Stella Levi, a 96-year-old Jewish native of the island that was occupied by the Nazis in World War II. By Danielle Ziri for…

Recalling the once-vibrant Jewish life in prewar Rhodes, an island in the Mediterranean. By Michael Frank for The New York Times. Four years ago, while researching the war years in Italy, I was introduced to Stella Levi, now 96, probably…

By Charlene Giannetti for Woman Around Town “To a child growing up in WASP America, with parents who had funny accents, feeling good about being an Italian Jew was a great gift. But like many gifts of childhood, I took…

Near Washington Square Park through November 24, a living memorial dedicated to a 2,000-year-old Jewish community is manned by a spitfire nonagenarian survivor. Jordan Hoffman for The Times of Israel NEW YORK — In Lower Manhattan, a few steps from…

La storia sconosciuta di una piccola comunità millenaria distrutta dal nazismo nell'isola delle rose: la mostra del Centro Primo Levi fino al 24 novembre. Gianna Pontecorboli for La Voce di New York Il risultato è stato possibile grazie al contributo…

omaggio a Stella Levi, che usci' viva da Auschwitz Alessandro Baldini for ANSA Cultura In una vecchia "carriage house" nel cuore del West Village torna a vivere la comunità ebraica di Rodi sterminata ad Auschwitz nel 1944. L'installazione dal titolo…

Los Corassones Ablan (“i cuori parlano”, da un detto sefardita), ha come filo conduttore i racconti di famiglia e le ricerche storiche di Stella Levi. Carole Hallac for La Stampa, October 2019 Un mostra multimediale nel cuore del West Village…

Simone Somekh for Tablet, May 2018 Whether you’re looking for the latest Israeli best-selling novel, the five books of the Torah, or even the translation of the Babylonian Talmud, in Italy, there is one man behind all of these books…

Simone Somekh for Tablet, April 2018 When Ba’ghetto, the oldest Jewish restaurant in Rome, announced the opening of its new location in Milan, someone must have made a quick phone call to inform the Chief Rabbinate of Israel that the…

As the Tour de France wraps up this week, a historical debate still rages over who deserves credit for the production of identity cards for Jews hidden in Florence Michele Sarfatti, Tablet Magazine An exhibition at the Italian American Museum…

An ‘archaeologist of bureaucracy’ traces the ghostly lives of foreign Jews in Italy during World War II. By Michael Frank   In the fall of 2011 I received a letter from my friend Letizia Gualandi, a professor of archaeology at…

Michael Frank. “We do not see things as they are; we see them as we are.” This is the Talmud quoting Shmuel ben Nachmani on dreams, but the observation speaks fittingly—and pointedly—to last summer’s commemoration of the establishment of the…

NEW YORK—Besides Israel, Italy is perhaps the smallest region in the world to feature the greatest concentration of different Jewish traditions. In its 2,000 years of history, the Italian Jewish scene has drawn on a number of traditions including the Ashkenazi,…

Holocaust Remembrance Day 2017 inspires reflections on the crisis of the European Union and the plight of refuges    New York, NY, January 13, 2017 -  The 2017 commemoration of Holocaust Remembrance Day, coordinated by Centro Primo Levi with the…