Dr. Jud Newborn - who serves the Cinema Arts Centre as a consultant, bringing many renowned celebrities to our venue and producing extraordinary events - served as Founding Historian and co-creator of New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage--A Living Memorial to the Holocaust (1986 - 2000). He is co-author of the critically acclaimed
classic,
Sophie Scholl and the White Rose
, now in a 3rd, Special 75th Anniversary Year Edition. Dr. Newborn is also an internationally renowned dramatic multimedia lecture artist, erstwhile “Nazi Hunter” and “undercover agent” during Communist Martial Rule in Poland, and an expert on anti-Semitism, extremism and the fight for democracy and human rights worldwide.
Most recently, Dr. Newborn was instrumental in salvaging one of the world’s most important collections of 900 anti-Semitic artifacts covering 500 years, for which he found safe haven at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The Katz-Ehrenthal Collection helps fill a tremendous gap in explaining the Holocaust by showing how much anti-Semitism was part-and-parcel of popular culture in Europe for centuries. It also covers anti-Semitism in the USA.
"There could be no honor more meaningful to me than the Spirit of Anne Frank Human Writes Award. I thank you deeply, from the heart. I’d like to share with you some thoughts tonight that may give this year’s commemoration of Anne Frank’s birthday a new perspective.
"An important part of my work is presenting four inspiring multimedia lecture programs, with stirring music, compelling images and dramatic storytelling. One of the most popular - based partly on my co-authored book - is “Speaking Truth To Power: The White Rose Anti-Nazi Resistance - And Heroes in the Fight for Human Rights Today.”
"When first researching this in Germany, I came across some diary entries by Sophie Scholl...
"...Starting at ages 12 and 15, Sophie Scholl and her brother Hans were fanatical Hitler Youth leaders who transformed uniquely to become the greatest heroes of the German anti-Nazi resistance, and icons of “civil courage” in Germany today. From June 1942 to February 1943 - while Anne was in hiding - the Scholls and a handful of comrades issued a staccato burst of six eloquent anti-Nazi leaflets, which they distributed daringly
throughout wartime Germany, from Hamburg to Vienna.
"Here’s a quote from one of their leaflets: 'Seit dem Anfang des Krieges … Since the beginning of the war 300,000 Jews have been murdered in the most bestial manner. This is a crime unparalleled in human history - a crime against the dignity of man. But why tell you these things when you already know them? Everyone wants to be exonerated, but you cannot be - because everyone is guilty, guilty, guilty. Wir Schweigen nicht!... We will not be silent! We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will not leave you in peace!' '
All of us at the Cinema Arts Centre are deeply proud of our colleague, Dr. Jud Newborn and the recognition he has received for this important work.