Recent Program Highlights
19 November-20 December 2006 - noon-1PM Wednesdays at the Galleria, Landmark Center, Saint Paul
Fighting the “Good War”: Minnesota and World War II
brown-bag lunch series, co-sponsored by the Ramsey County Historical Society
outline of speakers
22 February 2007 - 5-8PM at the Landmark Center, Saint Paul
Friends Face an Unknown Past: Quaker Responses to the Holocaust
Metro-area Quaker potluck, museum tour and discussion
program flyer
19 November 2007 - noon-5PM Sunday in various rooms of the Landmark Center, Saint Paul
Destination Landmark: Culture in Action
cultural programming, co-sponsored by Minnesota Landmarks
schedule of events
6 December 2007 - 1:15PM Thursday in Ramsey County Room 317, Landmark Center, Saint Paul
Launch of Travelers Free First Thursday at TRACES
Christmas historian James Neagbour presented a narrated Power-Point travelogue Christmas Markets in Germany, immediately following the Schubert Club Concert in the same room.
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6 December 2007 - 7:15PM Thursday at the Galleria, Landmark Center, Saint Paul
Launch of Travelers Free First Thursday at TRACES
Christmas historian James Neagbour presented a narrated Power-Point travelog Christmas in Nazi Germany in the Chief Justice Room 430, Landmark Center, with plans to present in 2008 Christmas on the Midwest Homefront.
3 January 2008 - noon and repeated at 6:30PM, Thursday at the Galleria, Landmark Center, Saint Paul
Pastor Warrior: Fighting Prejudice at Home, Fascism in Germany
Paul C. Lutz was a Lutheran pastor in Lime Springs/Iowa when the United States entered World War II. Dangerous gossip began circulating in the town about Paul Lutz, not because of his political views, but because as a “German church” leader he occasionally led German-language services.
Entering the army in late 1943 as a chaplain, Lutz traveled from Germany to Italy to Spain, and visited the prison camp Dachau, where he witnessed the atrocities Hitler perpetrated against the Jewish people. As a chaplain able to translate and offer consolation to US soldiers and foreign soldiers, Lutz was quickly transformed in the eyes of his peers from a suspicious character based on his German roots to an upstanding U.S. citizen willing to use his skills for his country.
Speaking on the experience of being a German-American at a time when his country was most against all things German, Charles Lutz spoke on the experiences of his father, and told one man’s story as he fought for his country, and fought against the prejudice his country held for him.
learn more about Paul Lutz |
Paul Lutz and family |
“Filme im Februar / Films in February” German-Film Series
Poster / Brochure
In February 2008 TRACES Midwest/WWII Narrative History Museum and Minnesota Landmarks co-sponsored “Filme im Februar / Films in February” series, which traced the progression of German filmmaking from the 1920s to the present. The first week featured the exuberant creativity of Germany’s Weimar Republic (1919-1933); the second showed the abrupt change caused by Nazi dictatorship; the third documented the sentiments of post-war, occupied Germany as captured in film; and the final week showed the modern revitalization of German filmmaking. These films were shown in conjunction with speakers such as Macalester Professor Linda Schulte-Sasse, author of Entertaining the Third Reich, and Professor Kirk Allison of the University of Minnesota.
With one exception, all films were shown in Landmark Center’s F. K. Weyerhaeuser Auditorium, lower level. The film on February 17th was shown at the:
Germanic-American Institute
301 Summit Avenue,
St. Paul MN
www.gaimn.org
651.222.2927
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Weimar Republic Films At the beginning of the early 20th century, Germany had emerged as a leading center of the avant-garde and the birthplace of Expressionism in art and sculpture. These films reflect the creativity of the time.
3.Feb.08 2PM Sun. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
German Expressionism first found its way into film with this movie about the somnambulant Cesare and the traveling magician, Dr. Caligari, who exercises an eerie amount of control over him—a classic in early horror-movie genre.
Lecture followed: "On the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" Professor Linda Schulte-Sasse of Macalester College |
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| 7.Feb.08 7PM Thu. “M” (1931) -
Directed by Fritz Lang, Peter Lorre gives a chilling performance as a serial murderer who preys on small children in a film that rivals Metropolis and Lang's others as his greatest work. (sponsored by Travelers Foundation) |
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Nazi Era Film After the freedom experienced under the Weimar Republic, the severe censorship and confined aesthetic of filmmaking under the Nazi regime was an extreme change. While exploring how the Nazis used non-propaganda films on the silver screen to serve their purposes, the question emerges: is art under censorship still valid?
10.Feb.08 2PM Sun. The Eternal Jew (1940)
One of the most famous pieces of Nazi propaganda aimed at Jews, its depiction of the Jews of Poland as filthy, evil, corrupt, and intent on world domination was used as a justification for the horrors of the Holocaust.
Lecture followed: "Eugenics and 'The Eternal Jew'" Professor Kirk Allison of the University of Minnesota |
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Special Valentine’s Day Film
14.Feb.08 7PM Thu. The Princess and the Warrior(2000) From the creators of “Run Lola Run” comes the story of Sissi, a nurse entirely devoted to her patients at Birkenhof asylum. A love story emerges as she meets Bodo, an ex-soldier wrestling with a traumatic past and a criminal future. |
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Post-War and Occupied-German Films In the period following the war, the German populace struggled to accept the atrocities they had participated in—directly or indirectly—under the Nazi regime. The following two films explore Germans’ search for some form of self-understanding during that tumultuous period of time.
| 17.Feb.08 2PM Sun. The Murderers Are Among Us (1946) A woman returns to Berlin from a concentration camp to find that a Dr. Hans Mertins is living in her apartment, and refuses to leave. Over the course of the film, an unlikely compassion and understanding forms between the two. |
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21.Feb.08 7PM Thu. The Tin Drum(1979) The Tin Drum stands as a monumental exception to the rule that a great novel rarely inspires a great film. Young Oskar Matzerath, who grows up in Danzig and witnesses the rise of Nazism at the eve of World War II, decides at age 3 to stop growing—effectively shutting out the world and communicating only by banging on his tin drum. Volker Schlondorff‘s epic unfolds with cinematic artistry, psychological insight, political vision and symbolic richness |
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Modern German Films From still coming to grips with their country’s history to moving ahead with new hope and creativity, these films show the range of modern German filmmaking.
24.Feb.08 2PM Sun. Goodbye Lenin(2003) In East Germany in 1989, Alex Kerner’s mother Christiane falls into a coma just as the Berlin Wall is about to come down. Eight months later, she wakes up, but her heart is too weak to withstand any great shock. So Alex goes to great (and often hysterical) lengths to keep the truth about her country’s reform a secret. This widely praised, Golden Globe-nominated comedy played in festivals around the world. |
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| 28.Feb.08 7PM Thu. Downfall(2004) It’s the last days of Adolf Hitler, April 1945, and Hitler’s personal secretary Traudl Junge finds herself in the Fuhrer’s bunker. Facing inevitable defeat, Hilter’s moods range from defiance to fight or fleeing, remaining loyal or opting for self-preservation. Eva Braun parties while Magda Goebbels kills her children. The movie goes on to show how Hitler and Eva lived their last hours in the infamous bunker. |
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(end of "Films in February")
6 March 2008 - 7PM Thursday in Courtroom 317, Landmark Center, Saint Paul
Without Due Process: An Investigation of Unlawful Internment
TRACES sponsored two speakers: Teresa Nelson, Legal Counsel for the ACLU of Minnesota, who spoke about civil liberties violations involved with present-day detainment, while Michael Luick-Thrams, TRACES Executive Director, gave a historical overview of internment of German-American civilians during World War II.
3 April 2008 - noon Thursday in Chief Justice Room 430, Landmark Center, Saint Paul
German War Brides: A Retrospective
Author Annelee Woodstrom explored the experiences of former "enemies" coming to live in the American Heartland after World War II. After offering summaries of her story and responding to initial questions, the audience posed their questions about this mostly forgotten sub-chapter of Midwest/WWII history.
7PM Thursday in Chief Justice Room 430, Landmark Center, Saint Paul Annelee Woodstrom's web site
War Child: One German War Bride's Story
Author Annelee Woodstrom's autobiography War Child described the Germany she knew as under Nazi dictatorship, and how meeting a Minnesota soldier at the war's end changed her life. When she arrived in Ada, Minnesota with her G.I. husband in 1947, she landed among a people recently portrayed to her as"the enemy" speaking almost no English. Now releasing her second book, Empty Chairs, she shared more about that and related experiences.
1 May 2008 - noon and 7PM Thursday in 2nd floor Galleria, Landmark Center, Saint Paul
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Anneliese Solch and Kenny Woodstroms' wedding portrait, 1947 |
Censorship: Then and Now
After noon showing a documentary film about attempts in Oklahoma City to remove from public access the German film The Tin Drum, TRACES staff led a discussion about this incident in specific, as well as censorship in general.
Learn more about the Oklahoma censorship case involving the Tin Drum.
Also in the Galleria at 7 PM, Brian E. Fogarty, Professor and Chair of Sociology at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul spoke on censorship and suppression of ideas found throughout our culture. He explored why individuals or communities feel it necessary to isolate themselves from certain people or ideas. Fogarty is the author of War, Peace and the Social Order (Westview Press, 2000) and of Why Not Here? Germany, America & the Origins of Fascism (Potomac Books, forthcoming in Winter 2008). Fogarty teaches a course titled "Music, Culture, Genocide" at St. Catherines.
12 June 2008 - noon Thursday in 2nd floor Galleria, Landmark Center, Saint Paul
Women and Girls: Coming of Age in the 1930s, 1940s and Today
TRACES featured six documentary shorts done by girls who partnered with elder women who came of age in the 30s and 40s, to explore growing up female then and now. Each girl worked with a woman partner (80 years old or older) and made a short film together sharing their experiences, fears and insights about growing up female in Minnesota. Many of the films involve mention of WWII, such as Dearest Albina, a narrative of the life of a 92-year-old St.Paul woman and the letters exchanged with her husband during the war. The young filmmakers, as well as their subjects presented their films and answer audience questions.
These films were made by TVbyGIRLS, a non-profit organization that works with girls ages 10 to 18 to build leadership, compassionate and collaborative working skills, critical thinking and engagement in social justice and the issues of their communities. For more information about TVbyGIRLS please visit:
www.tvbygirls.tv/the_site/index.html
TRACES hosted a luncheon reception at at 11:30 AM on Thursday, 12 June, honoring Travelers and their grant contribution. The Travelers grant makes possible the monthly free programming and first Thursday free admission. The luncheon was open to the public, but reservations were required.
10 July 2008 - noon Thursday in 2nd floor Galleria, Landmark Center, Saint Paul
World War II Veterans Stories by Minnesota Filmmakers
TRACES featured four documentary shorts done by Minnesota filmmakers about Minnesota World War II veterans. The films included a story of a veteran who served with the ski troops of the 10th Mountain Division during the war and veterans who served in key battles to defend Europe and the Pacific. At the program, the filmmakers gave a brief narrative of their films and they and the film subjects participated in a question and answer session with the audience after the films. A grant from Travelers made possible the monthly free programming and first Thursday free admission. The people of Travelers are actively engaged in cities and neighborhoods across America, contributing money, volunteer hours and know-how to worthy organizations.
7 August 2008 - noon Thursday in 2nd floor Galleria, Landmark Center, Saint Paul
They'd Hear My Beating Heart: Female Survivors of the Holocaust
Professor David Feinberg presented the film If Nothing Else They'd Hear My Beating Heart, about female survivors of the Holocaust. The "Voice to Vision" project helps Holocaust and Genocide survivors share their experiences through art. The stories of the survivors are first shared through dialogue, and then transformed into works of visual art that displays painting, drawing, collage, and mixed media. The film included the story of Gina Kugler, who was 14 when she boarded a train headed for the death camp of Treblinka. She and twelve other children squeezed through the small windows of the locked car and jumped off the train. They never saw their parents again.
For more information about "Voice to Vision" visit: www.chgs.umn.edu/museum/exhibitions/voice/
21 August 2008 - noon Thursday in 2nd floor Galleria, Landmark Center, Saint Paul
Swords into Plowshares: German POWs in Minnesota, 1943-46
Twin Cities author Dean Simmons presented the little-known WWII history story of German POWs imprisoned in the Upper Midwest during WWII. His book Swords into Plowshares focuses on the roughly 380,000 German soldiers who were POWs in the U.S., some 10,000 of whom spent time in camps across Iowa, Minnesota and the Dakotas. Simmons found that not only did the war take away countless Minnesota men, it also created an immense labor shortage - leading to state leaders requesting POWs to work the farms. Of great interest was not just that Minnesota used POWs for labor during the war, a fairly common practice then, but how well the prisoners were treated. Swords into Plowshares documents this thoroughly human story, the process by which captors and captives came to regard each other, in the words of one German POW, as "just people." Simmons also presented further material gathered after the publication of his book. TRACES unveiled it's exhibit Held in the Heartland, about German POWs in the Midwest. TRACES free monthly programming was made possible by a grant from Travelers.
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2 October 2008 - noon Thursday in 2nd floor Galleria, Landmark Center, Saint Paul
"You Have Been Kind Enough to Assist Me":
Herman Stern and the Jewish Refugee Crisis
Author Terry Shoptaugh--professor of history at Minnesota State University Moorhead--spoke and read from his new book, “You Have Been Kind Enough to Assist Me: Herman Stern and the Jewish Refugee Crisis”. The book provides a rare, grassroots look at how some Americans reacted to the Holocaust as it developed.
It tells the story of Herman Stern, a North Dakota clothier who rescued about 140 German Jews from the impending Holocaust in Europe. Born in Germany in the 19th century, Stern immigrated to North Dakota in 1903 and took a job working for an uncle at Straus Clothing. Stern later became co-owner of a clothing chain and managed its branches from the home store in Valley City, North Dakota. In 1934 Herman Stern began sponsoring some of his nieces and nephews for American entry visas (which involved submitting an affidavit to the U.S. State Department, promising to be financially responsible for any immigrant who might have difficulty becoming financially independent).
Throughout his seven year mission to rescue German Jews, Stern relied on the help of North Dakota Senator Gerald Nye. A major figure in the American isolationist movement and a man later accused of being an anti-Semite, Nye time and again helped Stern get individuals out of Germany and to America. In time, Stern proposed a plan for settling hundreds of Jewish refugees in several North Dakota townships and began raising money for this purpose; the beginning of the Second World War in 1939 derailed the plan. He continued to respond to requests for affidavits from other relatives, and friends, however, and by finding co-sponsors among members of the North Dakota Jewish community, Stern was able to help more than 140 German Jews leave Germany and come to the United States.
“You Have Been Kind Enough to Assist Me”: Herman Stern and the Jewish Refugee
Crisis, by Terry Shoptaugh. Fargo: North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies Press, 2008. 366pp., illustrated with photographs, $24.95.
poster | slideshow (These are downloads and the slideshow requires PowerPoint.) |
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6 November 2008 - noon-1PM Thursday at the Galleria, Landmark Center, Saint Paul
Past as Prolog: Learning from Shared Legacies
TRACES Executive Director Michael Luick-Thrams gave a guided tour of the museum, followed by commentary on how the overall TRACES project has used historical contexts to shed light on contemporary issues of war and peace.
7 November 2008 - 10am-5PM Thursday at Highland Park Branch Library, 1974 Ford Prkwy, St. Paul
Behind Barbed Wire: Midwest POWs in Nazi Germany
Until the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944, the most U.S. POWs in Nazi hands came, per capita, from the Midwest.Visitors learned about this legacy through didactic panels, ten display cases with actual artifacts, three films and Director Michael Luick-Thrams as docent. |
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19 November 2008 - 12-1:15PM Wednesday at the Bishop Henry Whipple Building, Fort Snelling, Saint Paul/MN
Midwest POWs in Germany/German POWs in the Midwest in WWII
As part of the Federal Executive Board of the Twin Cities EEO Diversity Day TRACES Executive Director Michael Luick-Thrams will narrate two Power Point presentations about POWs in Germany and the Midwest during WWII, with emphasis on how the treatment they received affected post-war relations as well as the men's own lives.
1:30-2:45PM Wednesday at the Bishop Henry Whipple Building, Fort Snelling, Saint Paul
7 December 2008 - 1-3pm Sunday at the Community Center, Crystal City/TX and 4-6pm at the Public Library, Uvalde/TX
Psychological/Social Effects of U.S. WWII Internment of German-American Civilians
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