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November 2, 2026 Update

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November is Jewish Book Month. Its roots go back to 1925, when Fanny Goldstein, a librarian at the Boston Public Library, decided that Jewish books and Jewish pride were worth celebrating. She set up a display of Jewish books that became the first Jewish Book Week. A century later, the Jewish Book Council is honoring the 101st Jewish Book Month, inviting all of us to “come together to celebrate authors and readers that keep the Jewish story alive.”

The Joseph Bau House Museum is proud to join the celebration as a Jewish Book Council Community Partner for Jewish Book Month. In his memoir, Bau: Artist at War, Joseph Bau tells how his art kept him alive through the Holocaust. In her diaries, In the Name of God!, Rebecca Bau tells her side of their story in her own words. Read them, share them, and help keep their story alive.

#JewishBookMonth #TheStoriesThatConnectUs #ReadItShareItKeepItAlive

Jewish Book Council: Jewish Book Month

Dear Friends of the Joseph Bau Museum,

November is Jewish Book Month, and we’re proud to celebrate as a partner of the Jewish Book Council. This year marks the 101st Jewish Book Month, honoring the authors and readers who keep the Jewish story alive. It’s a perfect time to discover our father’s memoir, Bau: Artist at War, and our mother’s diaries, In the Name of God!

We’re also proud to share that we presented the first Rebecca and Joseph Bau Award to Deborah Smerecnik, screenwriter and producer of the film Bau, Artist at War. For sixteen years, Deborah never gave up on bringing our parents’ story to the screen, and because of her, audiences around the world are now meeting Joseph and Rebecca Bau.

And in just a few days, we’ll be on our way to the United States! In Atlanta, we’ll join the MJCCA Book Festival on Sunday, November 8, for a film screening, an author talk, and a day at the Joseph Bau Traveling Art Exhibition, along with visits to several Jewish day schools. Then on Thursday, November 12, we’ll be at Suffolk YJCC in Commack, Long Island, where we look forward to meeting more of you. To host a talk at your synagogue, school, or organization, write to us at JosephBauMuseum@gmail.com.

To the many Volunteers who have come to Israel to support communities and help with recovery work: thank you, and please visit us on a day off. We offer special group rates for volunteer missions, schools, and community organizations. To book your visit, message us on WhatsApp at +972 54-430-1499.

Want the latest as it happens? Find us on Facebook or save our Linktree for every museum link in one spot. And if there's someone in your life who'd enjoy these updates, we'd love it if you passed along our email sign-up link.

And if you’d like to help us find the museum’s next home, you can give anytime at www.causematch.com/JosephBauMuseum.

Thank you, as ever, for walking alongside us. It's because of you that our parents' story — and the story of everyone they helped save — keeps finding new people, in new places, one conversation at a time.

With love and gratitude,

Clila and Hadasa Bau

Co-Directors

Joseph Bau Museum

Deborah Smerecnik Receives the First Rebecca and Joseph Bau Award

Clila Bau (left) and Hadasa Bau (right) with Deborah Smerecnik, screenwriter and producer of Bau, Artist at War, at the Los Angeles premiere, Museum of Tolerance, September 21, 2025.

The Joseph Bau House Museum has presented the first Rebecca and Joseph Bau Award to Deborah Smerecnik, chief screenwriter and producer of the film Bau, Artist at War. Museum co-directors Clila and Hadasa Bau, daughters of Rebecca and Joseph Bau, presented the award on January 4, 2026, along with a Certificate of Profound Gratitude naming Deborah “Our Miracle.”

The honor recognizes sixteen years of dedication. “For sixteen years, you never gave up,” the certificate reads. “You remained focused on the goal, even when the journey was long and challenging.” Deborah first met Clila and Hadasa years ago and told them their parents’ story belonged on the big screen. She stayed with that vision until Bau, Artist at War became a reality.

“Because of your dedication, determination, and love, the beautiful and important film, Bau, Artist at War, came into the world,” Clila and Hadasa wrote. “In the name of our parents, Rebecca and Joseph Bau, we honor you for bringing their story to life and preserving their legacy for future generations.”

The film tells the story of Joseph Bau, an artist who survived the Holocaust by forging documents that saved lives, and of his love for Rebecca, whom he married in secret in the Płaszów camp. Thanks to Deborah’s work, audiences around the world can now meet them.

Joseph Bau's Art Exhibition Now Open at the Marcus JCC of Atlanta

Joseph Bau's daughters, Clila and Hadasa Bau, come to Atlanta to take part in the 35th Edition of the Book Festival of the MJCCA: free film screening, ticketed author talk, and book signing on Sunday, November 8; more than 40 signed works are on view through December 2026.

Thanks to EL AL for partnering with us to help bring

Clila and Hadasa Bau to Atlanta for the traveling exhibition, film, and book event.

Free Film RSVP

Ticketed Book Event RSVP

Long Island friends, this one is for you.

On Thursday, November 12, Clila and Hadasa Bau, daughters of Joseph and Rebecca Bau, will be at the SYJCC- Suffolk YJCC in Commack for an evening in honor of Kristallnacht and Jewish Book Month.

They will share their parents' story the way only family can: a secret wedding inside the Płaszów concentration camp, the identity papers Joseph forged to help others survive, and the art and love that carried them through.

Film clips from Paramount Pictures feature film, Bau, Artist at War
Display of Joseph's artwork
Joseph Bau's recently republished memoir, Bau: Artist at War

Thursday, November 12, 2026, 7:00 PM

Suffolk YJCC

74 Hauppauge Road, Commack, NY

Please share this with anyone you know on Long Island. And if you can't be there, you can still help save the Joseph Bau Museum in Tel Aviv:

https://causematch.com/JosephBauMuseum

A Thank-You to Volunteers in Israel — and an Invitation

Volunteers from around the world keep coming to Israel to lend a hand, and we want them to know the Joseph Bau Museum is waiting for them. We made this flyer just for them. It invites them into Joseph Bau’s Tel Aviv studio, where Clila and Hadasa Bau share their father’s story of art, courage, and love in person. Visits are by reservation, and groups of up to about 30 are welcome. If you know someone volunteering in Israel this season, please pass this along. The building that houses the museum has been sold, so now is the time to visit. You can also help us find the collection a new home at causematch.com/JosephBauMuseum.

How to Support the Joseph Bau Museum:

Donate now: Visit the CauseMatch campaign "Save the Joseph Bau Museum" at https://causematch.com/JosephBauMuseum.
Watch "Bau, Artist at War" יוסף באו, אמן במלחמה online: Help spread awareness that Bau, Artist at War is now streaming globally.
Share the Joseph Bau story: Learn more at https://linktr.ee/Josephbauhouse
Visit: Experience the museum in person, still at its original location, or view the online virtual tour at https://www.josephbau.org/3Dvista/index.htm.
Host the traveling exhibition: The Joseph Bau Traveling Exhibition is available to visit your community.

Learn more

Visit the online Bau Galleries

https://www.josephbau.org/en/galleries/caricatures/

Lesson One: The Alef-Bet. In this 1950s caricature, Joseph Bau imagines a first-grade teacher drilling his young pupils on the Hebrew alphabet using Israel’s election ballot slips, each one marked with a party’s letter. For a new country learning to read and to vote at the same time, Bau found the joke hiding in plain sight.

Bau In The News