In this lecture, Dr. Kaplan will describe the experience of Jewish refugees, mostly from Germany and Austria, as they escaped from Hitler to live in limbo in Portugal. Jewish refugees suffered anxiety and fear, but also evinced courage and resilience. Helpers included the very poor and very generous Portuguese people, the reluctant Portuguese government, and social welfare agencies, including the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee which subsidized needy refugees, found them shelter, and helped them reach safer havens.
We would be delighted if you would join us for wine and cheese after the lecture. There will also be an optional tour of the Judaica Collection up for auction at Sotheby's.
This public lecture has been endowed by Jerry and Linda Spitzer in memory of his beloved aunt, Helen Cohen.
Dr. Marion Kaplan is the Skirball Professor of Modern Jewish History at New York University. She is a three-time National Jewish Book Award winner for The Making of the Jewish Middle Class: Women, Family and Identity in Imperial Germany (1991), Between Dignity and Despair: Jewish Life in Nazi Germany (1998), and Gender and Jewish History (with Deborah Dash Moore, 2011) as well as a finalist for Dominican Haven: The Jewish Refugee Settlement in Sosua (2008).
Her newest book, Hitler’s Jewish Refugees: Hope and Anxiety in Portugal, 1940-45 will be published by Yale University Press in 2019. She has edited several other books on German-Jewish and women’s history and has taught courses on German-Jewish history, European women’s history, German and European history, European Jewish history, and Jewish women’s history.
The event is co-sponsored by the Jewish Book Council.
