Diaries, Dreams, and Desires: Anne Frank and Jewish Private Life
The Uhlman Family Seminar
Offered in collaboration with the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies and Raleigh’s Burning Coal Theatre
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Few documents have intrigued us as much as The Diary of Anne Frank. Frank’s bravery in the face of oppression and her keen observations on human nature have rightly made her an iconic figure of the Holocaust, the victim-witness par excellence of a horrific era in humankind. She is therefore often associated with history writ large, a personal window looking out at the big picture. But Anne Frank was also immersed in a private world, the world of Jewish home life of which millions of examples were extinguished. This seminar will explore the domestic worlds that Frank and millions of Jewish families enjoyed before the war, how they’ve been portrayed, and the disruption wrought on them by the Holocaust. We will consider how family documents and diaries play a role in remembering the Shoah, and how Frank coped with the hardships she faced with humor, an age-old resource for the Jewish people. The seminar will be capped with a presentation from Burning Coal Theatre on producing the Diary as a play, and will include performances of key scenes from the production.
Topics & Speakers
From Eastern Europe to West Hollywood: Imaging Jewish Life and Family
Federica K. Clementi, Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies and English, University of South Carolina
Documenting the Holocaust: Archival Collection and Diary Writing as a Response to Persecution
Karen Auerbach, Assistant Professor of History and Stuart E. Eizenstat Fellow
“I Have to Save Myself with a Joke”: Anne Frank and the Survival of Humor
Professor Clementi
Staging Anne Frank in the Twenty-First Century (featuring performances from the play)
Ian Finley, Commentator, Burning Coal Theatre
Private Lives Made Public
A panel discussion with our speakers
Time & Cost
9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, April 12, 2014. The tuition is $125 ($110 by February 5). Tuition for teachers is $62.50 ($55 by February 5). 10 contact hours for 1 unit of renewal credit. The optional lunch is $15.00.
SPECIAL NOTE FOR K-12 TEACHERS
The NC Civic Education Consortium will conduct a free teacher training in conjunction with this seminar, which will include free admittance to this program, as well as free tickets to Burning Coal Theatre’s production of The Diary of Anne Frank. For details, click here.
For information about lodging click here.
Co-Sponsored by the General Alumni Association.
For information about GAA discounts and other scholarships available to Humanities Program participants, click here.