Speaker: Dr. Marcia Rozenblit, Harvey M. Meyerhoff Professor Jewish History, University of Maryland
Series: Haberman Distinguished Scholar Series
Date: December 11, 2019
Location: Kehilat Pardes, Rockville, MD 

Noted historian Dr. Marsha Rozenblit will share her insights into the plight of Jews fleeing Nazi Germany and Austria in the late 1930's who sought visas to any country that would accept them. While most hoped to go to the United States, Great Britain, or Palestine, many ended up in places that were indeed strange for people who had lived in Central Europe. In such havens as Bolivia or Shanghai, they sought to make new lives for themselves while coping with difficult climates, cultures that were profoundly foreign to them, and deep longing for home. Mostly, they recreated a German-speaking, Central European Jewish culture. While grateful that they had found a refuge from Nazism, they never integrated into the societies in which they lived. Dr. Rozenblit will explore how these immigrants coped and why they did not integrate into their new communities of refuge.