Post tag: Kristallnacht
18 Film Festival Honors for Eugene Marlow’s “Zikkaron/Kristallnacht: A Family Story” DVD

Zikkaron/Kristallnacht Remembrance of Kristallnacht DVD by Eugene MarlowOFFICIAL SELECTION-Paris Independent Film Festival-2021Nominee-London Indie Short Festival-September 2021Dr. Eugene Marlow’s documentary short “Zikkaron/Kristallnacht: A Family Story” has been an official selection of 17 domestic and international film festivals, including the October 18-24, 2021 Paris Independent Film Festival and the London Indie Short Festival. It was awarded the 2016 John Culkin Award for Outstanding Praxis in the Field of Media Ecology by the Media Ecology Association. CUNY-TV aired the documentary in March 2020 as part of its “Short Docs” series.

Professor Marlow is a faculty member of the Department of Journalism and the Writing Professions at the Weissman School of Liberal Arts & Sciences, Baruch College, City University of New York (since 1988).

In addition to the above, Dr. Marlow is the recipient of several dozen awards for video programming excellence from numerous domestic and international video/film competitions.

About “Zikkaron/Kristallnacht: A Family Story”

This nine-minute documentary short describes the events of November 9-10, 1938 all over Germany and parts of Austria when, on the pretext of the assassination of a German diplomat in Paris, the Nazis destroyed thousands of Jewish-owned stores, buildings, synagogues, and homes.

The word “Kristallnacht” means “The Night of Broken Glass,” a reference to the shards of broken glass, a result of the destruction. “Kristallnacht” is considered the beginning of what resulted in the Holocaust.

The events of Kristallnacht” are told from producer Dr. Eugene Marlow’s maternal family’s perspective. They were present in Leipzig, Germany, during the event.  His Aunt Ruth (nee Landesberg) who was a child at the time of Kristallnacht, narrates the video. The video contains dozens of historical photographs and film. An original music score was composed and performed by Dr. Marlow and his quintet The Heritage Ensemble.


Generous support for this was project was provided by a PSC-CUNY Award, jointly funded by The Professional Staff Congress and The City University of New York.

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“Nada in Hamburg with Johannes Brahms” to be Released on May 7, 2016, Brahms’ 183rd Birthday

Nada in Hamburg with Johannes BrahmsNew York, NY:  MEII Enterprises is proud to announce the forthcoming release of “Nada in Hamburg with Johannes Brahms” featuring Nada Loutfi, piano soloist, radio broadcaster, and educator. The 10-track album consists of prolific German composer Johannes Brahms’ (1833-1897) earliest works.

May 7, 2016 is Brahms’ 183rd Birthday celebration.

Of the five works on the album, three
are chorales for piano.  These pieces, transcribed by Nada for this album, represent the first recording of these chorales for piano.

Other works on the album include:

  • Variations on a Hungarian Theme (Op. 21 No. 2)
  • Chaconne for the violin arranged for the left hand alone after J.S. Bach (Étude No. 5)
  • Sonata Op. 1 No. 1 in C Major
  • Étude for piano for the left hand after Franz Schubert (Éude No. 6)

“Nada in Hamburg” is the pianist’s third album, the second with this artist for the MEII Enterprises label. Her first CD, the self-titled “Nada Loutfi Pianist” (1997), features the rarely performed sonata by Paul Dukas and the Fantasy pieces Op. 116 by Johannes Brahms.

Her last CD—“Les Sentiments d’Amour” (MEII Enterprises 2006)—consists of 20 short character pieces for solo piano in the French chanson tradition composed by Eugene Marlow. Of this album, Paul Moravec, 2004 Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, said: “Pianist Nada Loutfi is the work’s ideal advocate in her wonderfully sensitive and finely balanced interpretations.”

Executive producer for “Nada in Hamburg” is Joelle Shefts, Producer is Eugene Marlow. The 64-minute album was recorded on a 9’ Yamaha at TNT Studios (Louisville, KY), edited at Valhalla Studio (New York City), and mastered at Onomatopoeia (New York City).

Nada Bio

Pianist Nada Loutfi, a U.S. citizen of Lebanese/Hungarian descent, with a Paris Conservatory education, enjoys a career as a soloist, radio broadcaster and educator. She was a first prize winner at the Paris Conservatory who then came to North America for advanced studies at the Banff Center for the Arts in Canada and Indiana University in the U.S. with the late pianist Gyorgy Sebok.

Her last recital tour took her to Tokyo and Nagoya, Japan. In New York City, she has performed Lebanese composer Elias Rahbani’s works and recorded pieces by classical/jazz composer Eugene Marlow. Nada has notably performed piano concertos of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Grieg, Rachmaninoff, and Ravel.

Nada organizes, hosts, and performs in her own concert series “The Classical Hour” in Louisville, KY, where she has nurtured a large following of listeners over many years. “The Classical Hour” is a once-a-mouth live broadcast and a weekly pre-recorded program every Sunday at 4 p.m. local time which can be heard worldwide over the Internet. It is available as a free download at http://www.crescenthillradio.com/the-classical-hour-nada.html.

MEII Enterprises
MEII Enterprises is a music and media company specializing in jazz, Latin jazz,
Brazilian, and classical music. Its catalogue of 18 albums can be found at www.cdbaby.com/artist/eugenemarlow.

The company also produces and distributes documentary DVDs, including “Shakerism: The First Two Hundred Years” (re-released in 2010) and “Zikkaron/Kristallnacht: A Family Story” (2015). Currently, the company is editing “From Decadent Dance Hall Music to Individual Freedom of Expression: Jazz in China” for release in 2017.

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“Zikkaron/Kristallnacht” Remembrance of Kristallnacht November 9-10, 1938

Zikkaron/Kristallnacht Remembrance of Kristallnacht DVD by Eugene MarlowThe Marlowsphere Blog (#131)

Seventy-seven years ago Ernst Eduard vom Rath (3 June 1909 – 9 November 1938), a German diplomat, was assassinated in Paris in early November 1938 by a Jewish teenager, Herschel Grynszpan. This became the pretext for “Kristallnacht,” the “Night of Broken Glass” on November 9-10, 1938 by the Nazis. The name “Kristallnacht” comes from the shards of broken glass that littered the streets after Jewish-owned stores, buildings, and synagogues had their windows smashed.

The true number of Jews massacred in the attacks will probably never be known, but it was certainly many times greater than the “published 91+ dead,” when the maltreatment of the Jewish men after they were arrested is taken into consideration, along with at least 300 suicides caused by the despair it engendered. Jewish deaths undoubtedly ran into the hundreds.

Additionally, 30,000 were arrested and incarcerated in Nazi concentration camps. Jewish homes, hospitals, and schools were ransacked, as the attackers demolished buildings with sledgehammers.

Over 1,000 synagogues were burned (95 in Vienna alone) and over 7,000 Jewish businesses destroyed or damaged.

“Kristallnacht “was followed by additional economic and political persecution of Jews, and is viewed by historians as part of Nazi Germany’s broader racial policy, and the beginning of the Final Solution and The Holocaust.

This is the context of a 9:20 minute DVD conceived and produced by Dr. Eugene Marlow now available from MEII Enterprises.

"Book of Ruth" by Ruth Rack (nee Landesberg)“Zikkaron/Kristallnacht (Remembrance of Kristallnacht),” however, did not start out as a video.  Its genesis was a chapter entitled “Kristallnacht” that appears in The Book of Ruth (Southern Highlands Publishers) published in 2000. It is a memoir  written by Dr. Marlow’s Aunt Ruth Rack (née Landesberg) who, along with his mother Estelle and two other siblings—his Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Bob—were fortunate to escape from Germany in spring 1939 shortly before Germany closed its borders. They all escaped to England. Ruth now lives in Sydney, Australia. All four siblings, together with their parents, mother Anna and father Bernhard, experienced Kristallnacht directly in Leipzig, Germany.

This chapter inspired Dr. Marlow to write a piece of music to pay homage to  Kristallnacht survivors and non-survivors alike. Recorded by his group The Heritage Ensemble in 2014 “Zikkaron/Kristallnacht” was released on an album entitledMosaica: Eugene Marlow's Heritage Ensemble Reimagines Popular Hebraic Melodies “Mosaica: Eugene Marlow’s Heritage Ensemble Reimagines Popular Hebraic Melodies.”

Shortly after the “Mosaica” CD was released it occurred to Dr. Marlow that the track would have even more impact if it were visualized; hence, the current DVD. He uses this video as an introduction for live presentations about his family’s story, during and especially after the November 1938 event. The thread of the story is that despite the Nazi’s intentions, his maternal family that escaped to England grew and prospered. The larger Jewish family has too in the last 75 years. In fact, Israel has one of the strongest economies in the Middle East and the world Jewish population is now the same as it was before The Holocaust—a triumph over The Final Solution.

“Zikkaron/Kristallnacht” is available directly from MEII Enterprises for US$10, plus US$3 domestic shipping and handling. Payment can be made through MEII Enterprises PayPal account (MEIIEnterprises@aol.com) or by contacting MEII Enterprises directly at the address phone number listed below.

Dr. Marlow is available to talk about his DVD and the aftermath of Kristallnacht as it affected his maternal family. He can also be reached at the address and phone number below.

Support for this project was provided by a PSC-CUNY Award, jointly funded by The Professional Staff Congress and The City University of New York.

Eugene Marlow, Ph.D.
November 9, 2015

© Eugene Marlow 2015

To order the “Zikkaron/Kristallnacht” DVD
or to arrange for a presentation:

“Zikkaron/Kristallnacht” DVD is available
directly from MEII Enterprises for
US$10 + US$3 domestic shipping & handling
Total of US$13

Payment can be made through
MEII Enterprises PayPal account or
by contacting MEII Enterprises directly
at the address phone number listed below

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logging in to PayPal,
click “Pay or Send Money”
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Then put in the e-mail address: meiienterprises@aol.com

Write or Call
Eugene Marlow
MEII Enterprises
235 Adams Street, Ste. 7A
Brooklyn, NY 11201

e-mail: meiienterprises@aol.com

Phone: 718-858-3384

 

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The Global Village At War

The Global VillageThe Marlowsphere Blog (#106)

My last blog posited that we are moving in the direction of humanizing technology. That is, increasingly our communications systems in particular—the Internet, World Wide Web, telecommunications—are morphing into very human-like sensory characteristics, for example, increasing voice characteristics, increasing use of motion video on the Internet. In homes, businesses, and public spaces video screens have become flat (some are curved), and large.

I also posited that our communications systems have created a global marketplace for information and communications. We have inexorably become what Dr. Marshall McLuhan   described in1964 as a “global village.” His use of those two words is correct. The planet has become global with respect to all manner of human activities. In one sense we have moved from villages, to city-states, to countries, and in the last century to regional economic entities, e.g., the Pacific Rim, the European Union, OPEC, the Organization of American States, the BRICS, and so on.

But the phrase also reflects the characteristics of a village of the past: people in the village are an entity unto themselves, sometimes dealing with outsiders, sometimes not, where men are dominant, and women are secondary. In today’s world the concept of a “village” is reflected in the fact that most if not all the new countries that have been admitted to the United Nations are based on “ethnic centers,” never mind geographic considerations. Further, current conflicts in the world are ethnically-based—that is, there are groups at war with each other based on perceived cultural differences. It is not about territory, especially, or even economic gain. It’s an extremist view—“we perceive who we are and if you’re not one of us, you must be killed.”

Technology used for good or evilIt is ironic that for all the technological advances in communications and the collaboration it fosters, there seems to be more groups coming into existence who are insular, exclusive and extremist.

Examples abound. The current Israel-Palestinian conflict in Gaza is about Hamas wanting to destroy Israel; it refuses to recognize Israel as a legitimate state.  On the other hand, Israel exacerbates the perceptions by continuing to build settlements on land the Palestinians regard as theirs. They also perceive that the entire region is theirs, but the United Nations   in 1948 voted otherwise. There has been conflict ever since. The conflict is exacerbated by Iran that is apparently supplying rockets to Hamas. Iran seems also bent on finding a way to destroy Israel.

In Iraq ISIS believes its Sharia interpretation of Islam is the only interpretation of the Koran and in that context feels no constraint in executing people who do not believe as they do and blowing things up—such as the resting place of the biblical Joseph.

In Syria newly elected (for the third time) President Assad thinks nothing of killing his own people who disagree with his self-centered, elitist policies. In Egypt the former, now deposed President Morsi thought nothing of inculcating his Brotherhood of Islam’s narrow-focused perception of the world. An ex-military general is now the new president. We’ll see how that works out.

Abubakar Shekau Boko HaramIn Africa, the Boko Haram, led by a man who was once interred in a mental institution, believe that everything in the west is bad. It thinks nothing of killing and kidnapping in the name of Islam.

In eastern Ukraine recently, Russian President Putin thought nothing of seizing the Crimean Peninsula and annexing it to Russia. He also supports the “Ukrainian militants” who similar to the abovementioned extremists think nothing of seizing buildings and killing those who do not feel the way they do about Russia.

In Chechnya rebels there continue to blow things up—including people—because they want a separate state based on their cultural heritage. The war in Bosnia at the end of the last century was also ethnically-based. Many died because each side saw their cultural heritage as the culture to follow. Ethnic cleansing followed.

Adolf Hitler used his Nazi propaganda machine to manipulate much of the German populace into perceiving that the Jews were at the root of their problems and that Jews were less than human. Starting with Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass) in November 1938, the Third Reich succeeded in exterminating six million Jews.

In China towards the end of Mao Zedong’s rule, the Cultural Revolution purged a generation of intellectuals and artists who were perceived as out of step with Mao’s dictates. Millions perished.

The CrusadesIn the 16th century the Spanish Armada attacked England. Why? Because Spain was Catholic and Elizabeth I wasn’t.  The Armada famously perished in the English Channel from a storm that came up just at the right moment.

Go back a millennia and you have the Crusades that pitted the righteousness of Christians against the righteousness of Muslim-based cultures. Go back another thousand years and you have the righteousness of the Roman Empire against the emergent righteous Christians, and so on.

Conclusion: toleration of other people’s cultural values and views is not a prominent human characteristic. To bring us back to the present, former Secretary of State Madelaine Albright recently said: “In a sentence, the world is a mess.” The problem in the early part of the 21st century is that the world means the world. Two thousand years ago the world was much smaller, but larger than the world of early agricultural communities of 10-12,000 years ago, and certainly much larger than the villages of pre-literate tribes before that.

The problem is conflicting cultural ethnic values and views are now supported and accelerated by contemporary transportation, information, and communications technologies. Information (whether factual or not) moves at the speed of light and this only expands its impact.

So, why hasn’t contemporary transportation, information, and communication technologies made the world a better place for all of us to enjoy? Why haven’t these technologies made us different? Why are human beings bent on pursuing conflict rather than peaceful co-existence?

Perhaps part of the answer is that human evolution takes a lot longer than technological development. After all, it took a couple of million years for homo sapiens to develop the Living on Mars by 2033capacity for language, but only a few thousand years to move from an agricultural world, to a world with accounting, then writing, then printing, then electronics, and now photonic and nano technologies.

We’ll probably have men and women living on planet Mars sooner than men and women will learn that cooperation and collaboration is more fruitful than armed conflict.

Please write to me at meiienterprises@aol.com if you have any comments on this or any other of my blogs.

Eugene Marlow, Ph.D.
September 1, 2014

© Eugene Marlow 2014

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