Activities
New Project
Study Trip to Jewish New York City
September 2005
In November 2005, the 350th anniversary of the first arrival Jewish immigrants in America was celebrated – in Wuppertal, too. And for this reason Dr. Bettina Hofmann, Dr. Ulrike Schrader (Director of the “Alte Synagoge”) and we prepared a program contributing to this anniversary, starting with the movie “Crossing Delancey” on November 3rd. We gave a short introduction to this movie and the three ones to follow in this series.
On November 4th, Ulrike Schrader gave a talk on Jewish
immigrants who had been able to escape the Nazi-Regime to the States. The
lecture was called “Dreaming in English, Calculating in German”.
Between 1933 and 1937 more than 150.000 Jews emigrated to the USA, but in
1938 – after the Third Reich had occupied Austria – stricter laws
made it almost impossible to escape. Nevertheless, thousands of Jews tried
to. Under the most unfavorable and often dangerous conditions they took off
in hope to find a more peaceful life in a country where they would be able
and – even more important – allowed to live.
By showing particular examples, Dr. Schrader was able to show the circumstances
under which the new life in the USA began for some of the Wuppertal Jews who
could emigrate. The destiny of one woman stayed on my mind: Hilde Cahn, whose
family came to the USA in April 1940. A lot of parents already prepared their
children for the new life in the States, and so did Hilde Cahn’s parents.
She had already taken English classes and was a trained secretary. So she
became the assistant of Thomas Mann and Bertholt Brecht. She was one of the
luckier ones.
But a lot of Jews were not so fortunate. Lawyers and doctors had to pass their
exams again because of the different rules in the US. And merchants had to
start in lower positions to earn their living regardless to their status they
had in Germany.
Bea Wyler is one of very few women rabbis. In New
York she attended the Jewish Theological Seminary. In a speech at the Alte
Synagoge in Wuppertal she talked about Jewish life in the USA and the change
of the women’s situation in Jewish congregations.
First of all she claimed that Americans have a completely different view about
their country and their American citizenship than Europeans for example have.
An American, she claimed, would never understand that there are people who
do not have a desire for the American way of life, and this goes for a lot
of Jewish Americans as well. They ask themselves how someone could not be
excited about the opportunity to be a fully assimilated American and a practicing
Jew at the same time.
Further Bea Wyler drew attention to the changes Jewish (Reform) congregations
went through during the last decades. The feminist movement of the 60s in
the USA reached Jewish women with a little delay but nevertheless with the
same impact. Women were accepted as rabbis, they were counted for the Minjan
and even allowed to wear the tallith during the service.
English Version
Wednesday, 3.11.2004, 19h, Cinetal-Programmkino Thursday, 4.11.2004, 19:30h, Begegnungsstätte Tuesday, 9.11.2004, 20h, Forum Maximum-Rex Theater Wednesday, 10.11.2004, 17 & 20h, Cinetal-Programmkino Thursday, 11.11.2004, 14:15h, University of Wuppertal, room
T-11.01 Thursday, 11.11.2004, 19:30h, Begegnungsstätte Sunday, 14.11.2004, 19h, Begegnungsstätte Wednesday, 17.11.2004, 17h & 20h, Cinetal-Programmkino Saturday, 20.11.2004, 20h, Forum Maximum-Rex Theater Tuesday, 23.11.2004, 19:30h, Begegnungsstätte Wednesday, 24.11.2004, 17 & 20h, Cinetal-Programmkino 4. Film: Meschugge |
Deutsche Version Mittwoch, 3.11.2004, 19 Uhr, Cinetal-Programmkino Donnerstag, 4.11.2004, 19.30 Uhr, Begegnungsstätte Dienstag, 9.11.2004, 20 Uhr, Forum Maximum-Rex Theater Mittwoch, 10.11.2004, 17 u. 20 Uhr, Cinetal-Programmkino Donnerstag, 11.11.2004, 14.15 Uhr, Uni, Raum T-11.01 Donnerstag, 11.11.2004, 19.30 Uhr, Begegnungsstätte Sonntag, 14.11.2004, 19 Uhr, Begegnungsstätte Mittwoch, 17.11.2004, 17h u. 20 Uhr, Cinetal-Programmkino Samstag, 20.11.2004, 20 Uhr, Forum Maximum-Rex Theater Dienstag, 23.11.2004, 19.30 Uhr, Begegnungsstätte Mittwoch, 24.11.2004, 17 u. 20 Uhr, Cinetal-Programmkino |
Films
presented in Cinetal-Programmkino
Wuppertal:
03. November |
19h |
Crossing Delancey * |
|
10. November |
17h |
20h |
Unstrung Heroes |
17. November |
17h |
20h |
Keeping the Faith |
24. November |
17h |
20h |
Meschugge |
* with an introduction to all films, in which relevant topics will be shortly presented.
Guest Lecture
Poetry reading with the Canadian poet George Ellenbogen
11. November |
14:15h |
University of Wuppertal |
room: T-11.01 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Home