MARCH 4 • 2021 | 35 H istorian Nancy Sinkoff read From That Place and Time: A Memoir, 1938-1947 by Lucy S. Dawidowicz and decided there was much more to tell about this 20th-century author, a Jewish and political pub- lic intellectual. Approval of Sinkoff’s subse- quent manuscript came from the Wayne State University Press, which last year pub- lished From Left to Right, Lucy S. Dawidowicz, the New York Intellectuals, and the Politics of Jewish History. The book was named a Natan Notable Book and received a National Jewish Book Award through the Jewish Book Council. “The Dawidowicz memoir basically covers her young adulthood, ” explained Sinkoff, professor of Jewish studies and history at Rutgers University in New Jersey. “She lived until 1990, but it seems nobody knew that much about her except people interested in the Holocaust. “Her major achievement was bringing the culture and civili- zation of the Eastern European Jewish [population] and its merciless destruction to the English-reading public. ” While Sinkoff delves into the Dawidowicz book The War Against the Jews 1933-1945, written in 1975 to tell about the Jewish response in keeping ethnic communal life together in the context of World War II, politics becomes the main focus of the professor’s recent text. “Dawidowicz was a youthful communist, then patriotic FDR Democrat and ended her life as an independent neo-con- servative urging the American Jewish community to vote for Ronald Reagan, ” said Sinkoff, who did some of her research and writing during a semes- ter as a fellow at the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan. Dawidowicz, whose values had her working with the American Jewish Committee and helping displaced persons, is described as a public speaker who expressed a belief that the greatest threat to Jews in her later years was the antisem- itism she saw coming out of the Soviet Union and radical anti-Zionism. “My academic interests have been connected to Eastern European Jewish life, ” said Sinkoff, who also has written Out of the Shtetl: Making Jews Modern in the Polish Borderlands. “Lucy S. Dawidowicz was witness to it. “Wayne State gave me free- dom to make the book I want- ed. I’ve included an appendix of 31 previously unpublished let- ters between Dawidowicz and various intellectuals, including Albert Einstein and novelist Allen Hoffman. ” Nancy Sinkoff New WSU Press book is a look back at Holocaust historian Lucy Dawidowicz. A Life Story with Politics SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER PHOTO CREDIT JERRY ZOLYNSKY The JN and the Jewish Community Center’s JFamily will once again shine the public spotlight on teens in our community with Rising Stars: Teens Making a Dif erence. 18 remarkable Jewish teens in the Metro Detroit area will be selected and featured in the April 29, 2021, issue of the Jewish News and recognized on the JN and JCC’s JFamily social media pages. Nominees must live in Michigan, identify as Jewish and be students in grades 9-12; they can be self- nominated or may be nominated by others today through March 17. Nominees should be recognized for impact, contribution and/or achievement in areas including (but not limited) to: • Tikkun olam, volunteerism, social action, advocacy, philanthropy • Academics/education • Athletics • Music & arts • Business & entrepreneurship • Overcoming obstacles and challenges • Jewish growth and learning • Leadership SEEKING TERRIFIC TEENS! To nominate yourself or a teen you know, go to thejewishnews.com and click on the Rising Stars button or to jfamily.jccdet.org/risingstars. The deadline is March 17.