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Page 6 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN July-August 2012 Breman exhibition looks at Jewish refugee scholars at black colleges In 1935, an article in The Afro- American stated, “We rejoice that our newspapers condemn German Nazi atrocities. It’s a good sign that they may yet discover the Nazism which is outside their own doors.” The relationship between two disenfranchised groups—Jewish professors who fled Nazi Germany and African-American students — and the unique bond that grew between them is the subject of the powerful exhibition “Beyond Swastika and Jim Crow: Jewish Refugee Scholars at Black Colleges.” This exhibition is now at The Breman Museum, after a successful run in New York City at the Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust and a national tour that most recently brought the exhibition to the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, in Skokie, Illinois. “Beyond Swastika and Jim Crow” will be on view in Atlanta through December 20. “Beyond Swastika and Jim Crow” tells the story of Jewish academics from Germany and Austria who were dismissed from their teaching positions in the 1930s. After fleeing to America, some found positions at historically black colleges and universities in the South. The exhibition explores what it meant to the students to have these new staff members as part of their community, how the students were affected by their presence, and what life was like for white, European Jews teaching at these institutions. The exhibition looks at the empathy between two minority groups with a history of persecution, some of whom came together in search of freedom and opportunity and shared the early years of struggle in the Civil Rights Movement. Aaron Berger, executive director of The Breman Museum, describes the show as “an incredibly important exhibition, particularly for Atlanta.... There are eight historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in Georgia and four here in Atlanta. The Breman Museum is proud to be the organization able to bring this fascinating story to Atlanta.” Berger also highlights the similarities between immigrating Jews and blacks in the Jim Crow South. “HBCUs were founded to provide a college education to African Americans who were denied access to public and private institutions. They helped elevate a division of second-class people to positions of equality in our nation. Immigrating Jews, fleeing Nazi-controlled Europe, could identify with the discrimination felt by the black community in the United States.” In early 1933, before the Nazis started dismissing Jews from their posts, more than 12 percent of faculty members at German universities were Jewish. While the top academics, like Albert Einstein, were in demand at prestigious universities, less well known professors had a much more difficult time finding work in the United States. The country was still in the midst of the Depression, and unemployment, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism were prevalent. As anti-Jewish actions in Germany escalated, several organizations, including the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars, worked to obtain positions for the exiled scholars. Of the several hundred refugee scholars who came to this country, more than 50 of them ended up at historically black colleges. ————— Notable professors in the exhibition include prominent sociologist Ernst Borinski (Tougaloo College), political scientist John Herz (Howard University), and art education pioneer Viktor Lowenfeld (Hampton Institute). Notable students include artist John Biggers (Hampton Institute); Dr. Joyce Ladner (Tougaloo College), the first female president of Howard University; and Dr. Joycelyn Elders (Philander Smith College), the first black surgeon general of the United States. The refugee scholars who found work at black colleges were often more comfortable than their peers at white universities, who faced on-the-job prejudice. Some professors, such as Ernst Borinski and Ernst Manasse, felt a deep connection to black students and spent the rest of their careers at the historically black colleges. Professor Borinski was even buried on the campus of Tougaloo. His tombstone reads, “Ernst Borinski, Inspiring Teacher.” Dr. Ladner said of Professor Borinski (whom the students affectionately called Bobo) that he had “an affinity with blacks, because they experienced a similar persecution.” Many other professors developed deep ties to their schools and friendships with their black colleagues and students that endure today. “It was a great good luck of mine to find my first teaching job at a black university, where I felt I had so much in common with teachers and students,” said Professor John Herz. He felt “at home very quickly,” at Howard University, where he attended lectures and concerts and spent many of his social hours. ————— The environment of mutual respect motivated some refugee professors to become involved in the Civil Rights Movement, officially or unofficially. Professor Borinski was identified as a “race agitator” for promoting integration both on and off campus. He wanted to be a “facilitator,” to “bridge communities,” and contribute to the Civil Rights Movement by bringing black and white people in a room together to share ideas. He created the Social Science Forums, which brought together the top thinkers of the time and the community for lectures and discussions. He would have his Tougaloo students arrive early and scatter throughout the room, so the white participants would have to sit among the black students. In many cases, it was the first time they had a substantive conversation or dined with someone of another ethnicity. The Mississippi branch of the ACLU gives out an annual award in Professor Borinski’s name. Professor Lore Rasmussen, an associate professor of elementary education at Talladega College, was arrested, along with her husband, Donald, for having lunch at a café with a black colleague. At first, the police thought she was a German spy, until she explained that she was a Jew who had escaped from Nazi Germany. “You should be glad to be in a place where there’s democracy and freedom,” they told her. “The experience of injustice I felt in Germany from Hitler coming into power I felt was being repeated,” she said. Professor Ernst Manasse, at North Central College for Negroes, in North Carolina, faced similar opposition when he would entertain black colleagues and friends. His white neighbors complained and threatened to shoot his guests should they return. In addition to getting involved in campus life and the political landscape, the professors, who came from formal and rigorous academic environments, did their best to instill high standards of learning. The HBCUs, mostly founded between the late 1860s and the 1880s, were primarily private liberal arts institutions, funded by philanthropists and missionary groups. A few others were public schools that offered both the liberal arts and vocational training in agriculture, trades, and service. “The German Jewish professors had a tremendous impact on young blacks in the South,” said Jim McWilliams, a student at Talladega College, who is now a retired attorney. “They exposed us to new music, art, and academic programs.” Joycelyn Elders was also grateful for her education and understood the importance of it. “Grandma Minnie was constantly at me,” said Dr. Elders. “‘You’ve got to get an education.’ That was her refrain, like a drumbeat. ‘You want to pick cotton and live in all these mosquitoes the rest of your life?’” Many of the professors encouraged the students to learn more about their own history and culture, like Professor Rasmussen, who took her students to a field to pick cotton. She often used unconventional and innovative teaching methods to give her students concrete experiences that brought them closer to their backgrounds. Likewise, Professor Lowenfeld encouraged his students, many of whom had never been exposed to art before, to explore their heritage and their struggles through art. The renowned artist John Biggers, who was studying to be a plumber when he met Professor Lowenfeld, said, “I fell in love with art. Art became the way we could speak.” Several other students went on to become top-notch educators themselves. ————— The exhibition is inspired by Gabrielle Simon Edgcomb’s landmark book From Swastika to Jim Crow: Refugee Scholars at Black Colleges (Krieger Publishing Company, 1993) and the subsequent PBS documentary by Joel Sucher and Steven Fischler, of Pacific Street Films. The exhibition includes artifacts and photographs, as well as two new films by Sucher and Fischler that feature the professors and the students. The exhibition begins with the dismissal of the refugee scholars from German universities and continues through their search for positions in the United States. It then highlights the backgrounds of the students and follows the professors and students coming together to teach, learn, and Civil Rights pin belonging to Joyce Ladner (Collection of Dr. Joyce A. Ladner) Donald Cunnigenʼs Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity sweater from Tougaloo College, circa 1970–1974. (Collection of Dr. Donald Cunnigen) Professor Ernst Borinskiʼs menorah (Collection of Frances and Lee Coker) See BREMAN, page 13
July-August 2012 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 7 Savannah’s JEA is wrapping up its centennial celebration By Jane Guthman Kahn Savannah’s Jewish Educational Alliance is celebrating its 100th anniversary. Centennial year activities will conclude Sunday, September 9, with “Bites + Bubbly,” a gala evening of food, festivities, and fundraising. The event is designed to “reflect on the 100 years of JEA service, while celebrating the future of 100 more to come.” The JEA, which through the years has resisted a name change to “Jewish Community Center,” is, in fact, Savannah’s Jewish community center. For years, it has also been known by its nickname, the Alliance. It was chartered in 1912, with the idea of creating one institution to meet the needs of Jews of all ages. The Council of Jewish Women had proposed a home for a permanent kindergarten, just one of several identified needs. In the early 1900s, this coastal Georgia town, one of the oldest Jewish communities in the United States, experienced an influx of Jewish immigrants from Europe, who needed help adjusting to life in America. That became JEA’s focus—to create an environment in which the middle-class German Jews, who arrived earlier, could help assimilate the new (and poor) Eastern European Jews, who were streaming into the city. The JEA would provide them with baths (today, some old-timers remember going to the old JEA for showers) and teach them language, sports, and manners. The goal was to produce Americans who would not embarrass the established Jewish residents and would be able to blend into the general community. The idea had been brewing for a while. Dr. George Solomon, long-time and beloved rabbi of Savannah’s Congregation Mickve Israel, had advocated for years for a Jewish center as a spiritual force for the unification of the community. Some talked of an institution to educate immigrants; others felt the need for a common meeting place. Sigo Meyers offered a gift of $25,000 to create a memorial to his brother, former Savannah Mayor Herman Myers. The gift was to be matched by the Jewish community. In 1914, two years after its organization, the JEA began operations, in a leased threestory house in downtown Savannah. The year before, it chartered Boy Scout Troop 2. In January 1916, the organization moved into a handsome new three-story structure on Barnard Street, in downtown Savannah. (That building, which took a mere six months to build, is now a dormitory for the Savannah College of Art and Design.) With the opening of the new JEA home, Dr. Solomon proclaimed, “The community had builded [sic] far better and wiser than it knew.” (Rabbi Solomon was to serve Congregation Mickve Israel and the Savannah community for 42 years.) But, with the onset of World War I and many members joining the armed forces, the JEA fell into debt and was forced to close, leasing the building as a school. A skeleton group kept it alive. The Hebrah Gemiluth Hessed (HGH), a benevolent society chartered in 1889, donated “a substantial sum” to initiate a fundraising campaign, and in 1920, the JEA reopened. In a 1930 celebration, Sigo Myers said, “...the institution has more than realized the hopes I entertained at its founding. To the young people...it has become a home and JEA BOY SCOUT TROOP NO. 2, MARCH 15, 1914. Front row (from left): Abraham “Chief” Harris (nee Horovitz), Joseph Apolinski, Selig Richman, LeRoy Fischer, Louis “Bum” Lasky (drummer), Emanuel Kronstadt, Benjamin Chernoff, Leon “Lukie” Tenner, and Joseph Greenberg. Center row: Perry Stone, Morris Rubin, Joseph Weiss, Benjamin Litman (bugler), Joseph Litman (scoutmaster), Ruben Siegel, Jacob Stone, Jacob or Ruben Greenberg, and Rubin Tenenbaum. Back row (holding flags): Nathan Marcus, Morris Mohre, Louis Bradley, and Isidore Apolinski. (Donated to the Savannah Jewish Archives by Albert Ullman) an inspiration. To the older men...a rallying place...our non-Jewish neighbors have come to look upon...the representative Jewish organization of Savannah.” During the 1920s, Jewish life revolved around the JEA, and many clubs and organizations that started then remain today. During the Great Depression, involvement increased, and, in 1939, the board voted to sell the Barnard Street building and expand elsewhere. But World War II intervened, and the building plans were put on hold. The JEA became a USO center, welcoming members of the armed forces from around the area. In 1946, the JEA opened the first Jewish day camp in Savannah. In 1950, the JEA site committee identified an 11 1/2 acre tract, eight blocks south of what were then Savannah’s city limits, for its new location. Funds raised from 1943 through 1954 were less than a half million dollars, but the institution moved, in September 1955, to the building it now occupies. JEA Executive Director Adam Solender commented recently on the “incredible commitment JEA leaders made to the community and each other,” in undertaking the construction of a new facility in the mid-20th century. During the 1990s, the building underwent major renovations, and an addition was built. Today, the 80,000-square-foot complex houses a fitness center, gyms, racquetball courts, an outdoor swimming pool, an indoor lap pool, and athletic fields. As in the early days, pick-up basketball is a lunchtime activity, but the health and wellness program today also includes adult recreation, youth sports, water aerobics, yoga, personal training, and fitness classes. The summer camps continue to be popular, as well as seasonal holiday camps. Weekly senior lunches, with programming, are well attended—the JEA provides transportation as needed. The JEA continues to offer concerts and speakers on a variety of subjects and also sponsors weekly games (Scrabble, bridge, Mah Jongg) an annual film festival, and monthly exhibitions featuring local artists. As it always has, the JEA adapts its programming to the needs of the community. An agency of the United Way (which See SAVANNAH’S JEA, page 13 JEA BASKETBALL, 1921-22. Front row (from left): Louis “Libe” Gittelsohn, Isadore “Izzy” Itzkovitz, Fred Rosolio (captain), Mortimer “Bud” Fischer, and Harry Marcus (also known as Dick Leonard). Back row: Frank Buchsbaum (cheerleader), Louis “Bum” Lasky, Emanuel Kandel, Jacob “Jack” Saul (nee Savilowsky), and Jerome Eisenberg. JEA SUMMER CAMP, AUGUST 1947. Identified: Barbara (Mirsky) Seligman, Murray Freedman, Isser Gottlieb, Lillian (Heyman) Lowe, Arnold Tillinger, Brenda (Hirsch) Schimmel, Gilbert Kulick, Lynn (Schlosser) Levine, Beth (Odess) Fagin Childress, Sammy Feinberg, and Frances (Solomon) Gretenstein.
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