Artists from inside the concentration camps

Inmates' once-hidden artwork offers poignant look at concentration camp life

Imagine toiling in secrecy, trying to create a drawing on bits of toilet paper or using a nail sharpened on a piece of stone to carve a wooden sculpture from a chair leg. Then burying these artistic treasures in the hopes that someday, someone would dig them up and attempt to understand the circumstances under which they were created.

UCLA Today

Jewish Studies Flourish in China
By David N. Myers

The last quarter century has witnessed a veritable explosion in the academic field of Jewish studies. During that time, Israel solidified its place as the global center in the field, while in the United States virtually every university and college of note has established its own program, center or chair. In these two venues, the growth of Jewish studies has been closely linked to the presence of Jews, though in the United States an increasing number of non-Jews have entered the field. In other parts of the world where the field of Jewish studies has been expanding, such as Germany, the field is populated almost exclusively by non-Jews.
 
Surely one of the most interesting sites of the new Jewish studies — and one of the most promising in terms of growth — is China. 
Jewish Journal

UCLA Mapping Project Goes Back to the Future

When Todd Samuel Presner was “drilling down” through the history of Los Angeles, he noticed something unusual in a 1939 map of the city’s eastern part. In contrast to the surrounding areas, the entire Boyle Heights neighborhood was colored in red. To real estate agents and mortgage lenders, the “redlined” area was a clear signal that this was no place for upstanding citizens to purchase a home or get an easy loan. The warning signal came from the Home Owners’ Loan Corp., a federal agency established as a New Deal benefit… Jewish Journal

Examining unconventional Judaism at UCLA

American Jewry is in transition, 20 speakers argued during “Looking for Judaism in [Un]Conventional Places,” a symposium at UCLA on Feb. 12-13. Scholars and academics discussed what Jews value, Jewish identity and which organizations are relevant today.
Shawn Landres, CEO of Jumpstart, set the tone early on Monday for the day’s presentations and panels, proclaiming the “era of consensus is over.”

Holocaust Conference Probes Ethics, Honors Prof. Friedländer

What are the moral and artistic limits faced by a novelist, filmmaker, historian or artist in depicting the Holocaust?

Some of the leading thinkers on this often agonizing question will present their views at a UCLA conference, April 21-23, on “History Unlimited: Probing the Ethics of Holocaust Culture.” The occasion will also serve as a tribute to UCLA historian Saul Friedlander, who has retired as the first holder of the “1939” Club Chair in Holocaust Studies.

Foundation for Jewish Culture Honors David N. Myers

Professor David N. Myers, chair of the UCLA History Department and past director of the UCLA Center for Jewish Studies, was honored with a Foundation for Jewish Culture Jewish Cultural Achievement Award at a gala event on Sept. 25 featuring the Los Angeles premiere of Monajat by Composer and Singer Galeet Dardashti.

Digitizing cultural stories and histories

Two UCLA students mapped the lives of Holocaust survivors and put their results online.  Their project follows the lives of a married couple who traveled from Europe to Israel and eventually to the United States.  A viewer can zoom around the globe, following the couple’s journey and reading their story.

This was just one of the projects funded by the W.M. Keck Digital Cultural Mapping Program showcased at the Faculty Center on Monday.

Presner appointed new director of UCLA Center for Jewish Studies