The duty of memory — 'through Hell with dignity'

Pierre Ferrand

It is fitting that a compatriot of Dante has written what is perhaps the most effective account of the hell of Auschwitz. He was Primo Levi (1919-1987), one of the finest Italian writers of the last century, whose best known identity is that of a prime witness of the Holocaust, a word he disliked. Read this article.

Musings

Robert Cotner

The pity of it all” seems an appropriate descriptor of our age. With the blessings of unimagined progress everywhere evident in human life, particularly in developed nations, we seem to have turned our backs on what brought us to this point and have reverted to a frame of mind we were once so intent on leaving behind. Read this article.

Ludwig Rosenberger Collection — a 'political, social, and cultural history of Jews'

Sem C. Sutter

Over the course of some 60 years, Caxtonian Ludwig Rosenberger (1904-1987) formed a remarkable Judaica collection of some 17,000 titles. Its genesis, growth, and scope were inextricably and unmistakably intertwined with his own experiences and with the story of Jews in Germany... Read this article.

Primitive History — A forgotten 'masterpiece'

Dan Crawford

At the end of his masterpiece, William Williams recalled how long and hard he worked to produce its 600-page bulk, pushing research into areas where the rest of the world was content simply to believe what it was told. He knew he would never again do anything so big or so important... Read this article.