From 1933 to 1939, a young man named Richard Wiener lived under the Nazi regime, the only Jewish student in a school for Hitler youth. His father was sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp, and the Nazis destroyed his family’s home. Wiener survived, as did many members of his family, and since then he has been a man on mission – helping others find peace and forgiveness amid the unthinkable.
 |
Samuel Bak's The Sheen, 1995, oil on canvas |
On Oct. 3, Wittenberg will examine the standard set by Wiener when it presents “Peace & Reconciliation,” a special interactive arts program, which will demonstrate how past tragedy can empower people to work toward greater social justice.
As part of the unique program, two art exhibits, Jews of Luthertown Wittenberg in the Third Reich and Samuel Bak’s Illuminations, will provide the foundation for discussions led by noted experts across several disciplines, including art, history, law, language and political science. The event is being held in conjunction with the visit of a delegation from the Springfield’s sister city of Wittenberg, Germany.
The daylong event includes the following:
At 3 p.m. in the Wittenberg Student Theatre and Beach Gallery, Springfield Center for the Arts at Wittenberg University, 107 Cliff Park Road, Arne Lietz, assistant and advisor to Eckhard Naumann, Lord Mayor of Wittenberg, Germany, will lead the discussion on Jews of the Luthertown Wittenberg in the Third Reich, , which was created by Ronny Kabus and made possible by the Saxony-Anhalt State Centre for Political Education and the Luther Centre in Wittenberg, Germany, for the periods of 1933-1935, 1935-1938, and 1938-1945 and illustrate the systematic process employed to expel Jews from the city of Wittenberg and to make it a symbol of Nazi power.
At 4 p.m. in the Wittenberg Student Theatre and Beach Gallery, Springfield Center for the Arts at Wittenberg University, Gary Phillips, dean of Wabash College and an accomplished editor and writer in the field of linguistics and the ethical reading of the Bible, will discuss Bak’s work. A Holocaust survivor, Bak, according to one critic, “challenges modern consciousness to confront and try to comprehend the failure of the covenantal promises of the Jewish narrative and the salvational hopes of the Christian tradition to launch a global community based on virtue and love.”
Later that evening at 7:30 p.m. at Bayley Auditorium inside Wittenberg’s Barbara Deer Kuss Science Center, 315 Bill Edwards Drive, Tim Bennett, Wittenberg professor of languages whose recent scholarly work has focused on the German response to post-Holocaust theology, will moderate a panel discussion wherein Wiener will share his experience fleeing Wittenberg, Germany, in 1938 and his resulting life’s work. Fellow panelists will include Phillips, Lietz and Magdalena Scharf, political scientist and executive director of the U.S. program, Action Reconciliation Service for Peace, a German organization founded in the aftermath or World War II.
Admission is free, and all events are open to the public. Next month, in connection with Peace and Reconciliation, all guests are invited to attend a showing of Rosenstrasse, a film about memory and women of courage in the Third Reich, at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10 in the Wittenberg Student Theatre, Springfield Center for the Arts at Wittenberg University. Rochelle Millen, Wittenberg professor of religion, Bennett and Sophia Schnare from Action Reconciliation Service for Peace-Cincinnati will introduce the film.
Exhibits will remain at the Springfield Center for the Arts at Wittenberg University through Nov. 13, 2011.
Jews of the Luthertown Wittenberg in the Third Reich is on loan from the International Luther Foundation Inc., Dallas, Texas.
Illuminations: The Art of Samuel Bak, a gift from Samuel & Josee Bak and Bernie & Sue Pucker, is on loan from Facing History and Ourselves, Brookline, Mass.
