Retconning History: Comic Books and the Holocaust

By Josh Weiss April 16, 2015

In Matthew Vaughn’s 2011 movie X-Men: First Class, Professor Charles Xavier tries to stop his friend Magneto—controller of all things metal—from killing American and Soviet navy servicemen during the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis by telling him the sailors were just “following orders.” Magneto then delivers arguably the best line of the film: “I’ve…

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Honoring the Holocaust in the Land of the Liberators and Bystanders: A Jew in the Motherland

By Jonathan Katz April 16, 2015

Seventy years ago, on April 15, 1945, the British Army liberated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and its 60,000 mostly Jewish, starved, and diseased prisoners. Among these prisoners was my maternal grandmother – who had survived several deportations, from Kovno (Kaunas) to Vaivara to Bergen-Belsen – and had lost her first child, first husband, and most…

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From Italy, A Bridge to Anne Frank

By Sofia Domino October 1, 2014

My name is Sofia, I’m 26 years old, and I live in Italy. Like any young woman, I have many interests: I love traveling, reading, listening to music, eating, and living new experiences. I have been to the Unites States several times, and also to France and Spain, and I also lived in London for…

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Bringing Holocaust Denial to Campus: Interview With ‘Hoaxocaust!’ Star Barry Levey

By Derek M. Kwait September 23, 2014

Yesterday, I reviewed Hoaxocaust!, a new play performed and written by Barry Levey that satirizes Holocaust denial simply by putting the arguments of some of its biggest proponents, Arthur Butz, David Irving, Robert Faurisson, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in context. I saw the show the night of September 11 (coincidentally), then on September 12, I caught…

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Holocaust or ‘Hoaxocaust!’?

By Derek M. Kwait September 22, 2014

It’s 9/11 in New York and I’m commemorating by seeing a Holocaust comedy. Though Barry Levey originally wrote Hoaxocaust! written and performed by Barry Levey with the generous assistance of the Institute for Political and International Studies, Tehran for the New York Fringe Festival, I became aware of it during its second run at the…

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What do Buddhists and Jews Have in Common? A Lot

By Andrew Blitman May 9, 2014

Judaism and Buddhism. The former is a monotheistic faith built on faith God, the Torah, and the idea of free will. Judaism emerged in the Levant around 3,300 years ago. The latter is a nontheistic and monastic religion that originated in India around 563 BCE. Its tenets are the teachings of Prince Siddhartha Gautama Buddha,…

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Pew Survey Conversation (Part 3)

By Derek M. Kwait October 30, 2013

Part 3 in a 3 part series. Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here. 7.      What are your reactions to survey respondents’ answers to “What does it mean to be Jewish”? What creates Jewish meaning for you? Dr. Steven M. Cohen, sociologist: These questions pertain to areas of great ambiguity. I wouldn’t…

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Strauss-Kahn Gate II; Hitler used to advertise shampoo; Media does media, and more [Required Reading]

By pkessler March 27, 2012

Jewish Community protests Hitler Shampoo Ad [BusinessWeek] Turkey’s Jewish community is up in arms after an advertising agency used old film footage of the Nazi dictator to promote a woman’s shampoo. The video created for Biomen shampoo, embedded above, has sparked international outrage. “The Jewish community and the Chief Rabbi’s office on Monday called Hitler “the most…

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Pius the Not-So-Pious?

By Carly Silver January 13, 2010

Pope Benedict XVI hasn’t always had the greatest reputation for being pro-Jewish. In fact, he was a known member of the Hitler Youth when he was a young German man, which practically screams “anti-Semitism” (though whether he joined voluntarily and/or participated in their rituals is open to debate). Let’s take a look at a latest…

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