Screening of Ritchie Boys, November 18, 6:00 p.m., 448 Batza Room, Athenaeum

The Ritchie Boys tells the story of American soldiers who used their German language skills and cultural knowledge of Germany to fight against Nazi Germany. Many of them were persecuted by the Nazi regime and had to leave Germany in the 1930s. They were trained in Camp Ritchie, MD, in intelligence and psychological warfare and then send to Europe. The surviving Ritchie Boys are in their eighties and nineties now. They never met for reunions; they did not join veteran associations. In the end, the Ritchie Boys quietly left the war behind them and went on to enjoy quite remarkable careers – in arts and politics, in business and academia. In ”The Ritchie Boys” these remarkable, funny, sharp, brave men share their memories with us.

The event will be followed by remarks from Wolf Thormann (Professor Emeritus). He served in the US Army as one of the “Ritchie BCaptureoys.” Professor Thormann was a Professor of French at Goucher College from 1960-1989. In addition, he served as chair of the Modern Languages Department for numerous years. Wolf Thormann was born in Frankfurt, Germany, emigrated with his family to France in 1933, and came to the US in 1941.

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25th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, Nov. 13th, 7:00 pm, Soper Room (JR 227)

Screen Shot 2014-11-10 at 7.24.09 PMPlease join us for a presentation that will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. We will screen a documentary  that explores the history of the Berlin Wall and how the STASI (secret police) observed, oppressed and persecuted GDR citizens. We will follow the short documentary with a look at three graphic novels that tell different personal stories about the GDR. You will hear about an escape attempt via tunnel, the story of a teenager who was observed by the STASI for his involvement in the GDR peace movement, and the autobiographical account of an artist who left the GDR with his parents in the beginning 1980s. The presentation will also feature an exhibition of one of the graphic novels (translated into English).
presenters: Antje Krueger, Justine Ruhlin (’15)

Remembering the Holocaust: A Multi-Disciplinary Student Commemoration of Kristallnacht , Nov. November 12 at 6:00pm to 7:30pm

Join us for a commemoration of Kristallnacht, featuring Holocaust oral history storytelling performed by Gabrielle Spear, Nadav Marcus, Katie Mowrer, and Hannah Spiegelman. All of these students took Dr. Uta Larkey’s class “Oral Histories of Holocaust Survivors” in the past.

The program will also feature a musical performance of “Voice From The Annex”, Opus 46 – a song-cycle for Mezzo-Soprano and Piano, composed in 1990 by Jose A. Bowen with words from “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank, performed by Goucher sophomore Charlotte Khuner, soprano and Goucher Professor of Music Lisa Weiss, piano.  Justine Ruhlin (’15, History/German) organized the program for this event.