•

•3$•

mum:kw x,44:4,44;,'
.

0

•

page 47

Mazel
Toy!

Pre s erw

PPS

Sidney Bolkosky: "Everybody is obligated to know about (the Holocaust). Its part of our history
— not just Jewish history. It a terrible condemnation of Western civilization."

DIANA LIEBERMAN
Staff^ Writer

fry

hen Sidney Bolkosky's
son turned 14, he
received a birthday
card from a Holocaust
survivor. It was signed with a name
and serial number, and these words:
"When I was 14, I was on my way
to Auschwitz."
The story shows the impact of
living with a professor father who
has interviewed more than 150
Holocaust survivors as founder and
director of the Voice/Vision project
at the University of Michigan-
Dearborn.
The influence of the Holocaust is
overwhelming, Bolkosky said. "You
can't escape it. And the survivors,
every one of them, thinks about
some aspect of their experience every
moment of every day."
A member of the UM-D faculty
since 1972, Bolkosky, 55, not only

runs the VoiceiVision project, but
also carries a full teaching load. It
includes German history, Holocaust
studies, and such courses as
"Language, Myth and Dreams."
He is co-author of the Holocaust
high school curriculum, Life
Unworthy of Life, which is taught in
more than 160 Michigan high
schools; director of the university's
honors program; and chair of the
search committee seeking a new
chancellor for UM-D.
This year, Bolkosky, who lives in
Oak Park, received the highest honor
the campus extends to its faculty
members — the William E. Stirton
Professorship. Its a five-year appoint-
ment with various perks, including a
stipend and a public lecture.
"Most important to me, it's a peer
award," Bolkosky said. "There were
letters of support from faculty mem-
bers from all over the campus: engi-
neering, arts and sciences, every-
),
where.

A historian whose doctoral
research centered on German intel-
lectual history, Bolkosky's first book,
The Distorted Image, dealt with
German Jews between the World
Wars. His other works include

Harmony and Dissonance: The Search
for Jewish Identity in Detroit, 1914-
1967, and many journal articles.

"Dr. Bolkosky is absolutely one of
the most distinguished professors at
the university," said Robert Simpson,
UM-D provost and vice chancellor
for academic affairs.
"Versatility and originality are
characteristic of his enthusiasm for
his teaching," Simpson said. "And
his Holocaust archive is a unique
resource of inestimable value and,
without a doubt, his greatest legacy."
The magnitude of the project is
hard to overemphasize. In total,
175 interviews have been conduct-
ed, mostly of local individuals.
Each interview spans 11-12 hours,
with one having stretched 25

,x4

hours. If the survivor agrees,
Bolkosky or his staff then will
videotape a two- to four-hour ver-
sion of that person's testimony.
Bolkosky also has established per-
sonal relationships with many of the
survivors, beginning with the late
Dr. John Mames.
The two met in the late 1970s,
when both served on a Jewish
Community Council of
Metropolitan Detroit committee
dealing with Holocaust education.
Bolkosky, whose studies had
involved the political, sociological
and psychological atmosphere of pre-
Holocaust Europe, had begun focus-
ing more and more on Holocaust
education after the 1978 broadcast
of a popular television mini-series on
the subject.
"It was a terrible show, but about
100 million people watched it,"
Bolkosky said. "It was the first time
many of them had heard of the
Holocaust."

\ks .,

1..•\N\

••;

A: H‘\ .'

•

9/24
1999

Detroit Jewish News

41