VENUE
Wasserman Cinematheque,
Brandeis University

DATE
Thursday, March 21
7:15 pm

New England Premiere Event

A Letter to Wedgwood:
The Life of Gabriella Hartstein Auspitz

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

About the Film:
Gabriella Hartstein was born in 1914 in born in Mukacevo, Austro-Hungarian Empire (later Czechoslovakia), a thriving and cosmopolitan Jewish city where secular Hungarian Jews co-existed with Hasidim and Zionists. When British Colonel Josiah Wedgwood came to the city in 1922 to speak about Christian Zionist support for a plan to create the State of Israel, eight-year-old Gabriella was selected to greet the esteemed visitor. Gabriella become a respected teacher and ardent Zionist. In 1938, following the invasion of Czechoslovakia by German-backed Hungarian fascists, Gabriella wrote to Wedgwood for help. Astonishingly, Wedgwood (by then Lord Wedgwood) interceded, eventually bringing Gabriella and her brother to England. The 55 minute film is based on Ms. Labson's 2004 memoir, My Righteous Gentile.

Post film discussion with Gabriella Hartstein Auspitz
Reception to follow

Sponsored by The National Center for Jewish Film, Center for German and European Studies, Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry, Facing History and Ourselves, Harvard Hillel Worship and Study Minyan, Harvard University Center for European Studies.