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March Events

"The Real Inglorious Bastards"

March 11, 2014 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Location Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center, 5601 S. Braeswood, Houston, TX 77096-3907

"The truth is way stranger than fiction," muses one interviewee in this unbelievable true account that Quentin Tarantino's mega-hit was based upon. As teenagers, Hans Winberg and Fred Meyer fled Nazi Germany. Both loved their adoptive country, spoke German and hated the Nazis. Both enlisted in the U.S. Army, becoming part of an elite unit engaged in undercover missions in Austria. But to be successful, they need an accomplice who knows the area, finding one in Franz Weber, a former Nazi officer, conscientious deserter and prisoner of war. These courageous men recount their unbelievable adventure whose finale beats any Hollywood movie hands down. Holocaust Museum Houston is proud to be a community partner in the 10th Annual Houston Jewish Film Festival. For tickets or more information, visit www.erjcchouston.org/filmfest.

"Gloomy Sunday"

March 12, 2014 7:30 PM - 9:30 PM

Location Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center, 5601 S. Braeswood, Houston, TX 77096-3907

"Gloomy Sunday" was a favorite at the First Annual Jewish Film Festival, so it is only fitting to repeat its showing as a tribute to the founders of the Festival, Doreen Joffe and Sharon Kagan. In Budapest during the 1930s. Laxzlo runs a restaurant; he loves the hostess, Ilona. Both are marginally Jewish. Andreas, the piano player also loves Ilona and has composed a haunting song for her entitled "Gloomy Sunday." To complicate matters further, a German businessman, Hans, is smitten with Ilona, who rejects him. War breaks out. Hans is now a Nazi in charge of the final solution in Hungary. Holocaust Museum Houston is proud to be a community partner in the 10th Annual Houston Jewish Film Festival. For tickets or more information, visit www.erjcchouston.org/filmfest.

"Closed Season"

March 13, 2014 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM

Location Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center, 5601 S. Braeswood, Houston, TX 77096-3907

Wartime makes strange bedfellows. Fritz, a German farmer residing in a remote area of the Black Forest, agrees to hide Avi from the Nazis. The offer, however, comes with strings: Avi must work on the farm and attempt to father a child with Fritz's wife Emma. Not only is Emma opposed to harboring a Jew, but opposed to having a sexual relationship with him. Years later, the child of the coupling travels to Israel to deliver a letter to Avi from his dead mother and the story of the strange threesome unfolds. Holocaust Museum Houston is proud to be a community partner in the 10th Annual Houston Jewish Film Festival. For tickets or more information, visit www.erjcchouston.org/filmhttp://www.erjcchouston.org/filmfestfest.

"Curious George Arts and Crafts Story Time"

March 15, 2014 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Location Laurie and Milton Resource Center and Library

Bring the kids to come and relax on colorful bean bags in our library for "Story Time" while readers from the Houston Center for Literacy and Houston Public Library read from books about the cartoon character "Curious George." This event will be presented from 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturdays Jan. 11, March 15, and May 10. "Story Time" admission is free, but advance registration is required. Visit www.hmh.org/registerevent.aspx to RSVP online. Please note: children must be accompanied by an adult. This activity is presented in conjunction with the Museum's newest exhibit "The Wartime Escape: Margret and H.A. Rey’s Journey from France," which runs through June 15, 2014.

Bank of Texas Film and Lecture Series: "Süskind," 5:30 p.m. Screening

March 16, 2014 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM

Location Albert and Ethel Herzstein Theater

This riveting drama based on a true story tells the story of Walter Süskind’s courageous actions during World War II. To obtain protection for himself and his family, Süskind pursues a post with the Jewish Council. But it involves the unimaginable task of having to decide which Jews are to be sent to the labor camps in Germany. When he discovers what really awaits his fellow Jews, he is horrified to be part of this heinous plan. Courageously, he attempts to double-cross the Germans. He befriends a high-ranking SS officer, while cooperating with the underground movement to save almost a thousand Jewish children from certain death. This film is presented as part of the Houston Jewish Film Festival and the Bank of Texas Film and Lecture Series. Tickets are $10 for nonmembers, $8 for members of the ERJCC; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Holocaust Museum Houston; seniors and students. Seating is limited, and advance registration is requested. HMH members may register online at www.hmh.org/registerevent.aspx. Nonmembers may purchase tickets in advance at the HMH Store or at the door the day of the event. For a complete list of all the festival films, visit www.erjcchouston.org/filmfest.

Bank of Texas Film and Lecture Series: "Süskind," 8 p.m. Screening

March 16, 2014 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Location Albert and Ethel Herzstein Theater

"Rewriting History"

March 18, 2014 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Location Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center, 5601 S. Braeswood | Houston, TX, 77096-3907

Ninety-five percent of Lithuania's Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. Yet, the ultra-nationalist Lithuanian government is determined to rewrite history, investigating those who fought with the partisans and accusing them of war crimes. It is a government that wants to change the way the Holocaust is perceived, not only in Lithuania but worldwide. "Rewriting History" deals with the campaign of Danny Ben-Moshe, a professor of Yiddish at Oxford University, who leaves his job to gather records of the few Yiddish speakers left in Lithuania, including an 88-year-old Jewish woman, a former partisan, who having been investigated by the government decides to fight back. Holocaust Museum Houston is proud to be a community partner in the 10th Annual Houston Jewish Film Festival. For tickets or more information, visit www.erjcchouston.org/filmfest.

"Aftermath"

March 19, 2014 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM

Location Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center, 5601 S. Braeswood, Houston, TX 77096-3907

Based on true events from a dark age in Poland's history, "Aftermath" is considered one of the most controversial and important films ever made in Poland. Now, a year after its initial release, this film from award-winning director Wladyslaw Paskiowski is still causing shockwaves and soul-searching throughout Poland. The provocative thriller is set in motion when Franek returns to his native village in Poland after living in the U.S. There he discovers that his brother Jozek, is hated by his fellow Catholic villagers. The danger escalates through broken windows, anonymous threats and police harassment. When Jozek is attacked and beaten senseless for wresting old Jewish tombstones being used to pave the village roads, he finally reveals the reasons for the hostility. What Franek discovers next is an ominous and terrifying secret that has claimed countless lives and scarred his village for almost half a century. Holocaust Museum Houston is proud to be a community partner in the 10th Annual Houston Jewish Film Festival. For tickets or more information, visit www.erjcchouston.org/filmfest.

"Wagner's Jews"

March 20, 2014 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Location Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center, 5601 S. Braeswood, Houston, TX 77096-3907

Opera composer Richard Wagner was notorious for his anti-Semitic writings. What is little known, however, is that many of his close personal relationships were with Jews, including a rabbi’s son who conducted the premier of Parsifal, a pianist who lived with the Wagner family, and the teenaged piano prodigy Carl Tausig. This documentary explores the complex relationship between Wagner and the Jews, and whether it is possible to draw distinctions between the art and the artist. Musicians appearing in the film include the Zubin Mehta, Director of the Israeli Philharmonic, and Leon Botstein, Conductor Laureate of the Jerusalem Symphony. Holocaust Museum Houston is proud to be a community partner in the 10th Annual Houston Jewish Film Festival. For tickets or more information, visit www.erjcchouston.org/filmfest.

Bank of Texas Film and Lecture Series: “Jewish Resistance to the Nazis,” with Dr. Patrick Henry

March 20, 2014 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM

Location Albert and Ethel Herzstein Theater

Dr. Patrick Henry’s book “Jewish Resistance to the Nazis” not only puts to rest definitively the myth of the Jews going passively to the slaughter like sheep, but also explains why different types of resistance occurred in some places but not in others. Resistance will be conceived of as armed resistance, rescue and all attempts by Jewish people to fight the dehumanizing project of the Nazis. Henry will discuss his work in this public lecture presented as part of the Bank of Texas Film and Lecture Series. Henry is the Cushing Eells Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and Literature, Whitman College. He has published books on Voltaire, Camus, Montaigne and the novel “La Princesse de Clèves.” More recently, he published “We Only Know Men: The Rescue of Jews in France during the Holocaust,” which has been translated and published in French as “La Montagne des Justes.” Tickets are $5 for HMH members and $8 for nonmembers, and seating is limited. To RSVP online, visit www.hmh.org/RegisterEvent.aspx. Students and seniors may pay $5 at the door. For more information, e-mail events@hmh.org.

"The Real Inglorious Bastards"

March 21, 2014 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Location Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center, 5601 S. Braeswood, Houston, TX 77096-3907

Opening Reception: “The Rescuers: Picturing Moral Courage”

March 27, 2014 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Location Mincberg Gallery

Since its opening in 1996, Holocaust Museum Houston has asked visitors to consider the roles taken by people during the Holocaust and other genocides with the goal of eliminating apathy as a response to hatred and prejudice. Holocaust Museum Houston’s newest exhibition will explore these important choices when “The Rescuers: Picturing Moral Courage,” opens March 28, 2014. In this exhibition, viewers will encounter images and stories of people who engaged in rescue activities during the Holocaust and genocides in Cambodia, Bosnia and Rwanda. “The Rescuers: Picturing Moral Courage” is based on the work of Leora Kahn, who researched and interviewed rescuers from the Holocaust and other genocides. Each person’s image and testimony that visitors encounter in this exceptional photographic exhibition reflect “ordinary” citizens, who, by choosing to rescue the “other,” became heroes in a time when their country was committing acts of genocide. They came from different countries and different times, and for many, this is the first time they have told their stories - some risking their lives again in the telling. More than 30 images, accompanied by text from interviews, will tell the stories of farmers, taxi drivers, nuns, mothers and fathers who risked everything to save neighbors, friends and strangers. Kahn is founder and executive director of PROOF: Media for Social Justice. She works on global projects, partnering with organizations such as Amnesty International and the United Nations. Holocaust Museum Houston members are invited to a preview reception Thursday, March 27, 2014, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Admission is free, but advance registration is requested for the reception. Visit www.hmh.org/RegisterEvent.aspx to RSVP online. Nonmembers who wish to join and attend may call 713-527-1640.