CWB to host lecture on Jewish Berlin

Classrooms without Borders will present Shalmi Barmore, a historian and educator for lecture, Monday, March 12, at Rodef Shalom Congregation. His topic will be, “Berlin: A City Haunted by History and the Politics of Memory.”

Barmore was the director of Yad Vashem’s Department for Education, which he founded, from 1972-1976. During that time he also taught history at the Hebrew University’s School for Overseas Students.

Allied forces captured Berlin in May 1945, bringing an end to World War 11. The city’s once-robust Jewish population of 160,000 had been reduced to approximately 8,500 residents.

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Berlin was a city that had hosted some of the great Jewish contributors to European and World culture. In the 1920s Berlin had been the center of European creativity – art, architecture, history, etc. The Jews were an important driving force behind making Berlin the cultural capital of Europe.

In the wake of the Holocaust, there were few expectations that this vibrant human resource would have any kind of future in the city. Today, the Jews of Berlin constitute the fastest growing Jewish community in Europe and once again they are making their impact on the local and regional scene.

Contact Leslie Garrison at 412-621-6566, ext. 122 or garrison@rodefshalom.org for reservations.