Jewish Archives

Schindler’s List at 30: a look back at Steven Spielberg’s shattering masterpiece

by History Guild | Mar 20, 2024 | Social and Cultural History | 0

Reading time: 5 minutes

Schindler’s List, released 30 years ago, remains Steven Spielberg’s most highly acclaimed and emotionally sapping film. Winning seven Academy Awards, including best picture and best director, it was widely praised for its portrayal of the horrors of the Holocaust.

Fear Was Not in My Dictionary: The Revolutionary Work of Sara Fortis

by History Guild | Jan 9, 2024 | Military History | 0

Reading time: 6 minutes
When the small Greek town of Kuturla burned in 1943, teenage Sara Fortis had been on the run from German occupying forces for two years already. From the raw age of fourteen, she had hidden her Jewish status and worked for underground resistance movements as a nurse and teacher. But when her sanctuary burned, when she was separated from her mother, Fortis was no longer willing to hide. She was no longer willing to limit her resistance to ‘women’s work.’

Cave of Horror: fresh fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls echo dramatic human stories

by History Guild | Apr 24, 2023 | Social and Cultural History | 0

Reading time: 6 minutes
In March 2021 news broke of the discovery of fresh fragments of a nearly 2,000-year-old scroll in Israel. The fragments were said to come from the evocatively named Cave of Horror, near the western shore of the Dead Sea.

The finds were announced with attention-grabbing headlines that these were new fragments of the famous Dead Sea Scrolls and some of our earliest evidence for the biblical books of Zechariah and Nahum.

Vital Hasson, the Jew who worked for the Nazis, hunted down refugees and tore apart families in WWII Greece

by History Guild | Sep 5, 2022 | Military History | 0

Reading time: 7 minutes
I learned a lesson when conducting research for my book, “Family Papers: a Sephardic Journey Through the Twentieth Century.” I had discovered the story of a young Jewish man forgotten to history until now, a story that taught me that neither cultural affiliation nor family history is a reliable predictor of future behaviour. In short, identity is not destiny, and all of us can fall prey to the tides of history.

In Appreciation of Schindler’s List

by History Guild | Dec 15, 2021 | Military History, Political and Economic History, Social and Cultural History | 0

Reading time: 7 minutes
Films are often created with the aim of providing escapism and fun for audiences; sometimes they are sad too, and many times they are also thought-provoking, tragic and uplifting. And then there are films that exist as the total opposite of escapism and fun, and that go way beyond just being “sad” or “tragic”.