Monday 14 September 2015

Armenian News... A Topalian... The Wiener Library




From: "The Wiener Library" <info@wienerlibrary.co.uk>

Sent: Thursday, 10 September, 2015 12:00:26 PM
Subject: E-Newsletter for September 2015

 
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WL Oxford German Network prizes awarded by Michael Morpurgo
Earlier this summer the Wiener Library partnered with the Oxford German Network to participate in the annual German Olympiad. At the prize-giving ceremony, which took place in the Divinity School of the Bodleian Library on 23 June 2015, author Michael Morpurgo spoke and awarded prizes to schoolchildren, undergraduates and postgraduates for their entries in the various 2015 OGN competitions.
Over 60 schoolchildren from Year 5 upwards attended to collect their prizes for poems, stories, raps, cartoons and films in German. The prize sponsored by the Wiener Library was awarded to undergraduates who translated a letter written by Victor Klemperer about the Dresden bombings into English. The letter is part of the Wiener Library's 'Testaments to the Holocaust' collection of approximately 1300 eyewitness testimonies from the 1950s. The Library was recently awarded a major grant from the Department for Communities and Local Government for the translation of this extensive collection.
The joint winners of the translation prize were students Oliver Grey and Alice O'Donoghue, and their winning translations can be read on the Wiener Library blog. The event's organiser, Professor Katrin Kohl of the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages at Oxford University, says she started the Oxford German Network to promote the teaching of German in schools and universities. The Oxford German Olympiad is now an annual competition attracting entries from across the UK.
She says: 'The aim of the Oxford German Olympiad is to extend children’s experience of what modern languages is about, particularly showing them the cultural dimension of languages, which is neglected in the school syllabus'. In order to encourage a wider cultural understanding of the German language, the Wiener Library looks forward to future cooperation with the Oxford German Network in the coming years.
Exhibition to Launch 8 October: Fragments of a Lost Homeland
The Armenian world was shattered by the 1915 genocide. Not only were hundreds of thousands of lives lost but entire families across multiple generations were permanently forced from their homes. The narrative threads that connected them to their own past and homelands were often severed forever. Many have been left with only fragments of their family histories: a story of survival passed on by a grandparent who survived or, if lucky, an old photograph of a distant, silent, ancestor. By contrast the Dildilian family chose to speak. Two generations gave voice to their experience in lengthy written memoirs, in diaries and letters, and - most unusually for the time - in photographs and drawings.
The forthcoming exhibition of the Dildilian family collection at The Wiener Library - entitled 'Fragments of a Lost Homeland: The Armenian Genocide Remembered'. - has been co-curated by Professor Armen T. Marsoobian of Southern Connecticut University. He is the grandson of Tsolag Dildilian (pictured on the far left in this photograph) who ran photography studios across Anatolia. The exhibition will be open for viewing weekdays between 10am and 5pm from 8 October 2015 to 25 February 2016, and until 7.30pm on Tuesdays. Admission to the exhibition is free of charge.
EHRI Fellowship Call 2016-2018
The European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI) is now inviting applications for its 2016-2018 fellowship programme. These fellowships are intended to support and stimulate Holocaust research by facilitating access to key archives and collections related to the Holocaust as well as archival and digital humanities knowhow. 
The fellowships are intended to support researchers, archivists, curators, and younger scholars, especially PhD candidates with limited resources. Fellowships are being offered at one or more of the following EHRI partner institutions: the Wiener Library, King's College London - Department of Digital Humanities, Yad Vashem, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and others.
Visit this link for more information about the fellowship programme and to access application materials.
Wiener Library to participate in Open House London 2015
Open House was started in 1992 as a small, not-for-profit organisation to promote public awareness and appreciation of the capital's building design and architecture. The intention is to open up London's splendid buildings to the general public who don't otherwise have access. The Wiener Library is pleased to be participating in Open House London again this year.
Visitiors will have an opportunity to explore our impressive building at 29 Russell Square, described as a sensitive yet bold refurbishment of a historic Grade II Listed townhouse, including a dramatic first floor Reading Room, a new mezzanine and ground floor exhibition spaces. The refurbishment was done by Barbara Weiss Architects in 2011. Entry is to the Wolfson Reading Room, the exhibition area and archive stores via half-hourly tours.
Admission is free and booking is not required. Call 0207 636 7247 for enquiries.
Sexual Violence in Conflict: Rwanda 21 Years after the Genocide
Wed 16 Sep, 6.30pm-8pm
This presentation by Dr. Jemma Hogwood will focus on the thousands of women and girls who were brutally raped at the time of the Rwandan genocide, many of whom bore children from rape. Shame and stigma connected to sexual violence has prevented women from speaking out about their experiences.
Furthermore, many young people born of rape are now reaching adulthood, and struggling to make sense of their upbringing and complex family situations. The presentation will discuss the challenges faced by this specific group of survivors and their children and explain how community counselling groups have helped the mothers increase their wellbeing and improve their relationships with their children.
Love, Hate and Indifference: The Slide into Genocide
Thu 17 Sep, 6.30pm-8pm
Ruth Barnett was born Ruth Michaelis in Berlin and escaped Nazi persecution as a refugee on the Kindertransport with her seven-year-old brother just before the start of the Second World War. After the war, Ruth was a secondary school teacher for 19 years and a psychotherapist for 28 years. She regulary shares her testimony in schools and colleges. In this talk Ruth will present her recently published book: Love, Hate and Indifference. In this book, Barnett argues that denial and indifference are worse than overt expression of prejudice and racism because they operate mostly below the radar.
Lecture: Rescue and Rehabilitation in Bergen-Belsen after Liberation
Thu 1 Oct, 6.30pm-8pm
This lecture by Professor Rainer Schulze will examine the rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts that ensued from the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Professor Schulze has written widely on the British military occupation of Germany and was involved, as one of the project leaders, in the development of a new permanent exhibition at the Gedenkstätte (memorial) Bergen-Belsen, which opened in October 2007. He is the co-ordinator of the annual Holocaust Memorial events at the University of Essex, and founding editor of the journal The Holocaust in History and Memory.
Making Connections: Refugee Experience in our Archives
Tue 13 Oct, 1pm-2pm
As part of the European Days of Jewish Culture and Heritage programme organised by B'nai B'rith, we're delighted to offer a special behind-the-scenes tour exploring refugee experience within the Wiener Library archives. This tour will be led by a fully trained volunteer who will guide a small group through our basement stores. The tour will provide all participants with an up-close insight into the fascinating and diverse stories collected and stored in the Wiener Library archives.
What Happened at the Metropole: A Play in Two Acts
Thu 15 Oct, 6.30pm-8:00pm
The Wiener Library presents a seventy minute drama from director Tristram Powell, written by Adam Fergusson and Caroline Moorehead. 'What Happened at the Metropole'  is a dramatization of the historic meeting of the all-Swiss members of the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1942. Their dilemma was whether to reveal their recently acquired knowledge of the Nazi extermination camps or would this revelation to the world endanger their own life-saving relief work throughout the occupied territories of Europe? 
Tickets are £5 plus a small booking fee.
Exhibition: Humanity after the Holocaust: The Jewish Relief Unit, 1943-1950
Runs until 2nd October 2015
This exhibition at The Wiener Library marks the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen. The exhibition focuses on our outstanding collections relating to the post-war relief and rehabilitation work of the Jewish Relief Unit in Bergen-Belsen and elsewhere. 
The exhibition is also accompanied by a unique immersive panorama of the camp at the time of liberation.
International Tracing Service Archive
The UK's digital copy of the International Tracing Service Archive can now be accessed at The Wiener Library. The Library is able to respond to a small number of queries in order to attempt to clarify the fates of individuals, and is also in a position to provide public access to the Archive for research purposes.
The archive is open for researchers to consult in the Reading Room of the Library by appointment only. You can find out more information or submit an enquiry by going to our website.

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