email : Webview : Join Tisch in Celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month

Dear Tisch Community,

This May, we recognize Jewish American Heritage Month, a time to celebrate the rich history and profound contributions of Jewish Americans and those with Jewish heritage. We reflect this month on the enduring legacies of the Jewish American community and honor the broad spectrum of their cultures and experiences across the nation.

Institutions like the Tenement Museum and the Center for Jewish History, a Smitsonian affiliate, offer invaluable insights into Jewish life in New York City. The Tenement Museum provides a unique window into the evolving experiences of Jewish residents of the Lower East Side across different eras– from the early 1900s activism of early Jewish immigrant women to the post-World War II lives of families like the Epsteins. The Center for Jewish History offers additional perspectives, including the intriguing work of photographer Emile Bocian. Bocian, deeply familiar with Manhattan’s Chinatown, documented its communities through his lens. His extensive photographic archive, preserved by Chinese-American actress Mae Wong, is now housed at the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA), and depicts the interconnectedness of the city’s immigrant communities.

In recognition of Jewish American Heritage Month, we are pleased to spotlight the compelling work of UGFTV faculty member, Enid Zentelis '99 (MFA, Film). Her acclaimed podcast, “How My Grandmother Won WWII,” uncovers her Hungarian-Jewish grandmother’s covert wartime efforts, and her earlier film, Granny was an Outlaw chronicles her family’s Holocaust rescue by Raoul Wallenberg. We encourage you to read the excerpt below and read the linked article to delve deeper into Enid’s work and her grandmother’s inspiring story of resilience.

With gratitude,
The Tisch Office of Community Engagement

Professor Enid Zentelis with her grandmother, Bella Vital-Tihanyi.

Q: Your podcast was partially born out of the sociopolitical climate that has characterized the past decade. A few years removed from the release of “How My Grandmother Won World War II,” how do you feel this heightened relevance continues to shape its impact?

A: Thank you for the opportunity to speak about my grandmother. She would want to start off by commenting about being profiled or celebrated amongst other Jewish people, that she is many things, we all are. Celebrating one particular aspect of your identity is valuable only if it helps everyone see the common humanity in each other. My grandmother loved her family, but never centered herself or her background as a Hungarian-Jewish Holocaust survivor. The value of sharing one’s personal history is in how it can be useful in furtherance of helping others everywhere, and in dispelling myths of monolithism. My grandmother boldly and courageously believed in the best of humankind during the time of the Holocaust that killed her husband, father, and almost her children and herself. The story, “How My Grandmother Won WWII,” is an invitation to love each other and fight fascism, most especially right now with unspeakable cruelty on the rise.

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From Enid Zentelis’ forthcoming book How My Grandmother Won WWII:

...Excerpt 2: “I knew those boxes also contained a lot of my grandmother’s memorabilia and I missed her so much. I was in a restless state of mind - full of longing for the way she had made me feel in her presence, emboldened, free - as I opened a recent package from my mom. After rummaging through rescued photos, drawings and old books, I found myself staring at a letter, a war commendation I had seen in childhood, but never fully understood. It was from the Allied Control Commission addressed to my grandmother, thanking her for her highly confidential work.”