30 | JANUARY 21 • 2021

D

eborah Dash Moore
thought back through
Holocaust history
when she watched the storming
of the United States Capitol
on Jan. 6. What
came to mind
was the burning
of the German
Parliament’s
Reichstag Building
on Feb. 27, 1933.
Knowing Jewish
history is everyday
for Moore, editor-in-chief of the
Posen Library of Jewish Culture
and Civilization, not a physical
library but a published collec-
tion available for purchase in
hard copy by the Yale University
Press and online for free.
“The events in Washington,
D.C., reminded me of one of the
events that led to Hitler taking
power,
” said Moore, based in
Ann Arbor. “The Capitol wasn’t

burned like the Reichstag was,
but the kind of efforts to grab
political power by using an
organized armed mob of people
is something that has echoes
of the rise of fascism that pro-
duced the Holocaust.
”
As Holocaust Remembrance
Day approaches on Wednesday,
Jan. 27, Moore wants the public
to be aware of the accessibil-
ity of historical information
through the latest Posen Library

volume, Catastrophe and Rebirth,
the fourth segment in the series
that ultimately will have 10
volumes with some innovative
twists.
Online resources (at posen-
library.com) provide Jewish
history enhanced with cultural
readings and images relevant to
the commemoration.
“I think the new edition,
covering 1939-73, will provide
viewers with a way of think-
ing about the Holocaust that
is radically new,” said Moore,
who directs a staff of eight
researchers and editors. “Its
structure broadens into the
entire Jewish world during that
time period.
“While it allows people to
see what was happening in
Europe, in the camps and
the ghettos, it also provides
information on how Jews were
treated in other places. These

are juxtaposed with each other
in ways that are very powerful.”
The segment about the diary
of Anne Frank, for example,
is joined with other diaries to
give a more diverse sense of
personal Holocaust experi-
ences. Among the references
to treatment of Jews beyond
Europe at the time of the dia-
ries is a description of how one
member of each Jewish home
in Baghdad was wounded or
killed in 1941.
The library was founded and
funded by Felix Posen, a retired
commodities trader, through
the Posen Foundation. Work
began in 2005, and the first
volume, covering 1973-2005,
was issued in 2012. It is expect-
ed that all 10 volumes will be
completed by 2024, although
the volumes are not completed
in chronological order. The
next volume, to be released
around Passover, will be the
beginning volume as it delves
into Biblical times and ancient
Israel.
“The library was the idea of
Felix Posen,” Moore said. “He
brought together,
at the beginning of
the 21st century,
leading scholars
from the United
States, Israel and
Europe. His goal
was to provide
access to the riches of Jewish
culture, presented in English,
for all sorts of people but espe-
cially Jews.
“He wanted Jews to be aware
that their culture included

ARTS&LIFE
BOOKS

Posen Library releases volume on
“Catastrophe and Rebirth.”

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Holocaust History

LEFT: Holocaust and Rebirth (Kibbutz

Nezer Sereni, Israel), 1965–1968,

Batia Lichansky was the first woman

in Israel to sculpt national monu-

ments and memorials. Her contri-

butions to Israeli art earned her the

Dizengoff Prize for painting and

sculpture in 1944 and 1957. Photo

by Avishai Teicher.

INSET: The cover of The Posen Library

of Jewish Culture and Civilization;

Volume 9: Catastrophe and Rebirth,

1939–1973, edited by Samuel D.

Kassow and David G. Roskies.

Deborah
Dash Moore

Felix Posen