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Matt Lebovic
Diarist Renia Spiegel, who was murdered by the Nazis at the age of 18 in Przemysl, Poland (courtesy: Renia Spiegel Foundation)
April 12, 2018, 7:33 pm
The lost diary of Poland’s ‘Anne Frank’: An untold testament of a truncated life
For decades, few people knew of Renia Spiegel or her journal. The Holocaust victim's sister and a determined filmmaker are working to change that
By Matt Lebovic
Aftermath of the Babi Yar ravine massacre in Kiev, Ukraine, during which 33,000 Jews were murdered between Sept. 29-30, 1941. (public domain)
April 11, 2018, 3:40 am
In eastern Europe, when Nazis killed Jews, a ‘carnival atmosphere’ prevailed
In a new, second book about ‘Holocaust by bullets,’ Father Patrick Desbois depicts in grim detail local bystanders' culpability while Nazis implemented the Final Solution
By Matt Lebovic
During the Israel Summit at Harvard, retired NBA All-Star Amar'e Stoudemire (left) is interviewed by HBO sports correspondent Jon Frankel, April 8, 2018 (courtesy: Max August)
April 9, 2018, 1:32 pm
Harvard students tout Israel’s global impact at high-profile summit
The brainchild of eight undergrads, Sunday’s event highlights the Jewish state's 'uplifting narratives'
By Matt Lebovic
One of numerous photographs taken following the Kishinev pogrom of 1903. Here, a Jewish family stands outside of their ransacked home (public domain)
April 9, 2018, 5:05 am
How a small pogrom in Russia changed the course of history
Until the Holocaust, the Kishinev pogrom of 1903 was the archetype for anti-Jewish persecution, according to a new book about the massacre's long afterlife
By Matt Lebovic
Interior of the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, consecrated in 1675. The sanctuary, still without electricity, is lit by 1,000 candles for special occasions, January 2018 (Matt Lebovic/The Times of Israel)
March 25, 2018, 4:03 am
Why Amsterdam’s beloved nickname is a centuries-old Yiddish word, ‘Mokum’
Recalling a golden age for the Netherlands and Dutch Jewry, on today's streets of Amsterdam, mamaloshen still peppers local slang
By Matt Lebovic
Conceptualization of the Holocaust and human rights museum under construction in Dallas, Texas, set to open in 2019, created by Berenbaum Jacobs Associates (courtesy)
February 26, 2018, 10:03 pm
New Holocaust museums draw connections to local history to inspire ‘upstanders’
From Skokie to Skopje, newly designed memorials encourage visitors to 'participate in repair' -- by looking within themselves
By Matt Lebovic
Screenshots from YouTube videos related to the Holocaust history dispute between Israel and Poland. At left, a video from the Polish government's #GermanDeathCamps campaign. At right, a video produced by the Israeli group 'J-nerations,' February 2018.
February 23, 2018, 9:24 am
Poland-Israel Holocaust dispute hits the court of viral YouTube videos
Amid the diplomatic feud over Poland's new 'anti-defamation' law, Jewish activists push back on the Polish government for 'white-washing' anti-Semitism
By Matt Lebovic
Blaze Bernstein, center, with his parents, Jeanne Pepper and Gideon Bernstein. (Facebook via JTA)
January 29, 2018, 3:04 pm
Inside ‘Atomwaffen,’ where Blaze Bernstein’s alleged killer trained for race war
Before he was charged with the murder of his former classmate, Samuel Woodward participated in 'doomsday camp' with one of America's 'most extreme' hate groups
By Matt Lebovic
Oskar Schindler during one of more than one dozen visits he made to Israel, beginning in 1961. During the Holocaust, Schindler used his factory and bribes to help save Jews from deportation to Nazi-built death camps (public domain)
January 28, 2018, 3:40 am
In Boston, Holocaust-era rescue stories pierce the darkness of genocide
To mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a conversation about individual efforts to rescue Jews from the Nazis' 'Final Solution,' and why the accounts still resonate
By Matt Lebovic
People watch ceremonies marking the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, at the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising memorial in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, January 27, 2017. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)
January 26, 2018, 2:14 pm
The inevitable politicization of International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Since 2005, the UN has commemorated the genocide of European Jewry every year on January 27. This weekend's observance is galvanizing activists from South Carolina to Vienna
By Matt Lebovic
At the Westerbork museum in the Netherlands, Bas Kortholt demonstrates a new virtual reality simulation based on the former Nazi transit camp's appearance during the Holocaust (Elan Kawesch/The Times of Israel)
January 15, 2018, 10:02 pm
At Westerbork, virtual reality simulations ‘recreate’ the Nazi transit camp
Holland-based museum pilots a new GPS-based model to let visitors envision the Holocaust site -- down to bricks, strands of barbed wire, and imperfections on wooden shingles
By Matt Lebovic
In Weimar, Germany, Adolf Hitler participates in a Nazi party rally, 1930 (public domain)
January 8, 2018, 3:15 am
What did Germans know? Secret anti-Nazi diary gives voice to man on the street
Friedrich Kellner's account, starting from 1939, about the Nazi regime's atrocities and the unfolding destruction of European Jewry is being published in English for the first time
By Matt Lebovic
Alice Cohn poses in front of the building in which she hid from the Nazis, in Utrecht, the Netherlands. The photo was taken after the liberation of Europe in 1945. (Courtesy: National Holocaust Museum)
January 3, 2018, 5:02 am
How artist beat ‘foolproof’ Nazi system to forge Dutch ID papers, save 350 lives
Resistance work of Alice Cohn, expertly faking documents while in hiding, detailed in exhibit at National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam
By Matt Lebovic
LeVar Burton in the 1977 television miniseries 'Roots,' and Meryl Streep in 1978's 'Holocaust' miniseries (ABC and NBC, respectively)
December 27, 2017, 10:59 pm
When slavery and the Holocaust visited American living rooms
Aired on television within months of each other, 40 years ago 'Roots' and 'Holocaust' broke cultural taboos by depicting some of history's worst atrocities
By Matt Lebovic
The cast of "The MeshugaNutcracker! The Chanukah Musical," including guest star Bruce Vilance (center), in 2016. A film version of the musical comedy will be screened on Dec. 19, 2017 (Courtesy: Guggenheim Entertainment)
December 18, 2017, 10:25 pm
Hanukkah gets a kitschy ‘Nutcracker’ treatment for the holiday’s last night
The film version of a musical comedy based on Festival of Lights to screen at hundreds of US movie theaters on December 19
By Matt Lebovic
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