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

