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cltccloo aecrttslt brstoplcol socteXy 618 South Michigan Chicago, lllinoi: 60605 Telephone:(312) 663.5634 socrctal ne( )s VOLUME VIII NUMBER DECEMBER IT'S TII.1ETO RENE|,\l IVlEIIBERSHIP An0pportunity for YOUTo Become ANDINSURE CONTiNUATION OFBENEFITS An0ral HistoryInterviewer Tt's that time again! Readers are Would you like to converse with an reminded that most menberships in the So- inportant person in loca1 Jewish history ciety lapse at the end of the year and and at the same time preserve his know- must be renewed in order to renain in ledge and insight for the benefit of fu- good standing. 0n1y those who have join- ture Chicago Jews? Such opportunity nay ed CJHS slnce last July have expiration well be yours if you choose to becone an dates other than Januarl. 1, 1985. interviewer in the Societv's Oral Historv The many benefits of meurbership in- Program. clude a subscription to Societf, Ne\rs, We are looking for volunteers to tape meeting notices, discounG on sumier day interviews with individuals whose back- tours and Spertus Museum purchases, admis- ground or experience indicates that their sion to closed neetings and free or re- reminiscences should be preserved as a duced adnission to other events of Jewish part of Chicago Jewish history. There are historical interest. Treasurer Sol only two requirements to be met before you Brandzel urges members to renew within the too can have the interesting opportunity next few weeks to insure continuation of to chat with Chicagors past. benefits. ','ou must agree to attend one training Dues may be paid using the coupon on session, and you must have access to a page eleven of this issue of Society News tape recorder. or renewal forms about to be sent in the lf you are able to meet these require- mail. Regular annual dues begin at $15.00 ments, the Society will furnish tape and with senior citizens and students paying arrange for you to interview and tape $10.00. A fu11 schedule of dues appears someone on our waiting list of men and on page twelve of this issue. I Cont inued on page 2J OPENIIEETING, SUNDAY AFTERNOON, DECEMBER 9

A CampInmate, A PartisanFiqhter, & A Liberator DiScUSS LOCALIIEIVIORiES OFTHE HOLOCAUST

At Spertus CoIlege, 618 South Mich i gan Aveoue

SeePage Three for Details

Refreshments at l:00 PM Free Aduission Program at 2:00 PM ConcentrationCamp Inmates Sousht To PreserveHistorical Records A spokesman for the HoloCaust Surviv- ors Foundation, another Holocaust survivor, and a concentration camp liberator will conduct a discussion at the Sunday, Decem- ber 9, ureeting of the Chicago Jewish His- Presidenr Schwarrz torical Society. You won't want to miss this informative and rnoving experience. ThreeIvlembers Attend Workshops I thought of this program as f r.7as on reading The War Against the Jews 1933- Conservationof Historic fvlaterials 1945 by Lucy S. Dawidowicz. In Chapter 12, The Alternative Conmunity, she te1ls us The Illinois Cooperative Conserva- that in 1942 it the Warsard Ghetto "a se- tion Program, housed at the Morris Library cret Jer^rish archive was established under of Southern TIIinois University, gave the code naure oNEG SIIABBAT....Its purpose workshops throughout the state during the ...was to gather 'uaterial and documents month of September. CJHS Archives Chair- relating to the martyrology of the Jews in uan Elsie Orlinsky aLtended the day-long Poland' . " session in Oak Park. Board Members Janet Tf our people, then struggling under Hagerup and Moselle Schwartz attended the such traumatic circumstances, trad this com- session at the Lake County Museum, situa- pelling sense of history, surely we, 1iv- ted in the Lakewood Forest Preserve in ing in freedom, should be able to devote Wauconda, Il1inois. Attendees came from sone of our energy to preserving our own universities, museums and local historical history. 1 am convinced that we too can societ ies in northern I11inois. "stimulate the production of diaries, The ICCP helps libraries maintain chronicles, I journals, letters, photo- general circulating collections and is ore-hcl .11 c^rfc nf lac^-i^+i"^rPLrvs d'ru dedicated to helping protect and preserve --J analytic wri!ings on every phase of Jewish historic materials in Illinois libraries life" in Chicago. and historical repositories. It accom- Please call us. We will tell you how plishes this not only through workshops, rdrr lcrP. but also through its information and con- ,uu Norman D. Schwartz sulting service and through its publica- t ions . Presentat ions on conservation manage- SocietyWelcomes Newf'lembers uent, cleaning, de-acidificat ion, encapsu- The Society welcomes the following lation and the use of tools in a kit pro- new members who have joined during the vided to each attendee were included in late sunliler and early fal1. Their member- the workshop. It was suggested that a ship indicates a desire !o assist in the "hands on" approach, with regard to actual preservation of Chicagors Jewish heritage conservation techni-ques, be utilized at a and to participate in the many interesting future workshop. --Janet Hagerup and entertaining acLivities of our organi- 0ral History (cont'd) zaLion. Annabel Abrahan Jerry Knight [Continued fron page lJ E1i zab€ th Baulb Ronald S. M11ler women to be recorded. The tapes and Russel] Blender Ner Tamid Congregat ion transcripts become permanent parts of Chi- Phy 11is Eisenberg Dr. 6 Mrs. JeroEe Reich Reva Gambuig Rose Resnick cagors Jewish history and are consulted A11an E Norma coldberg George & Esther Sackhein by students and scholars--and you are Allan 6 Sandra Goodkind Rose Sagalavich given credi! as the all-important inEer- Jeanne Brol,,'n Gotdon Ceci 1e R. Scriapio vlewer. Esther llershman Dr. Jack Shean Tntelested persons should get in Roberta Hoffoan Doreen Weiss L1r t lan l'. Jatte Carole Wexler touch with the Oral History Co-Chairmen, Dr. Adele Hast or Sidney Sorkin at 22I- Marion Cut ler 4096. They'Il love the experience. Meubership Chairuan PANELTO DISCUSSHOLOCAUST HISTORY AT DECEIlBER6 tvlEETING t,oca1Survivor, Partisan Fighter, Skokie. AndLiberator in PanelDiscussion The Liberator and Rehab i 1it at or Rabbi Lifshutz is familiar to Society The direct involvement of Chicagoans members as the retired army colone1. who with lloloeaust expe!iences will be the spoke of life as a chaplain (and as a subject of the Sociely's Sunday, December rabbinical student in Chicago betlreen the 9, meeting at Spertus College of Judaica. wars) at a CJHS meeting in 1982. Ar the A panel composed of a former inmate of time of that popular presentation a member Auschwitz, an underground parl:isan fighter, of the audience was heard to renark upon and an Arnerican involved in tire liberation Ieaving, "l could Iisten to him aI1 day.rl of survivors will address members and llis chaplaincy ineluded much direct in- f':iends at the open meeting. volvement r^'ith freed concentra!ion camp inmates inunediately after the war. Refreshnents will be served beginning The Holocaust Surv i.vors Memorial at 1:00 P.M. and the program will begin at Foundation of Illinois, which Mrs. Lipnan 2:00 P.M. The meeting will be held in heads, is an organization of survivors and Bederman Hal1 of the College at 618 South other interested persons and is dedicated Michigan Avenue. There is no admission to the preservation of records, publica- eharge. tions and the collective menrory of the Holocaust horror with the view toward pre- A Panel of Expert s venting its repetition. Tcs important The panel will include Regina Lipman, roLe will also be discussed at the Decem- former Auschwitz inmale and president of ber 9 meet ins . the Holocaus! Survivors Memorlal Founda- tion of Illinois; Lisa De::man, former SocietyAcqurres History of partisan fighter whose public apPearances have impressed audiences of all ages; and Philanthropistlvlax Adler's Family Colonel Oscar Lifshutz, a retired Je\'rish by a friend of the Society, chaplain who played a part in the libera- Alerted for the Chicago Jewish tion and rehabilitation of survivors. CJHS has secured Archives a history of the fanily of Max Coordinating the panel will be Burt Robin, Ad1er. The book was donated by CJHS program chairman. and Sophie its author, their son Robert S. Adler. InTnate The Concent rat ion CamP The son wrote the history in an ef- great- Mrs. Liprnan was born in Lodz, Poland' fort to answe! questlons of Wendy' a and experienced the \^lartime ghetto there granddaughter of his. Max Adler was one under the Nazis before being sent to Aus- of Chicagors most prominent Philanthro- chwitz, where she worked as a slave labor- pists as t'as his brother-in-law, Julius e!. The only survivor of her family, she Rosenwald. The Adler Planetariaum was one came to the United States in 1946. She rs of Max Adler's generous gifts to the city a resident of Lincolnwood and the mother in the early years of this century' His gave of t\do ch i ldren . brother-in-law, of course, later a larger gift to the city in the form of the Part isan The Underground Museurn of Science and Industry. Mrs. Derman. born in Raczki on the The volume on the Adler familY con- Polish-Prussian border, was forced to move tains a genealogical chart of all lineal ar- to WesEern Poland \there she spent her descendants, a h ist ory of each Person teen-age years in Nazi-run ghettos in ranged by generation and photographs and Slonim, Grodno and Wilno. She and the nan copies of letters and newspaper clippings. who later became her husband escaped to Elsie Orlinsky, CJHS Archives Chair- become partisans in the woods near l^lilno man, remarked Ehat the Society is forEu- until liberated by the Russians j-n 1-944. nate !o have acquired this superb volume Eve Levin, She was reunited with surviving members of and expressed gratitude to Mrs. to Robert Adler, who provided her family in Chicago rn 1947 - Now the secretary mother of three children, she lives in information leading to its donation. COOKCOUNTY HOSPITAL COLLEAGUES CONTINUE IO HONORMEI'IORY OF REFUGEEPHYSICIAN SLAIN BY BERSERKPATIENT IN 1956 lvledicalLibrary Named frour the University of Chicago in 1951, After PromisingYoung Intern and was awarded an M.D. from Northwestern University Medical School in 1955.

By Terrence S. Norwood Begins Internship at County Hospital

In 1981, Cook County Hospital observ- On July I, 1955, Dr. Bruno Epstein ed the E\^,enty-Fifth anniversary of the es- began a one-year internship at Cook County tablishment of the Dr. Bruno Eric Epstein Hospital. To Learn irhat Dr. Epstein was lntern Achievement Award. Better known as like as a person, I contacted several of the "fntern of the Year Award." it was his fe11ow interns. According to Dr. Mar- begun in memory of Dr. Epstein, who kras vin trlishkin of St. Louis. "Bruno...was a fatally stabbed by an outpatient on Febru- very bright young man. He was very friend- ary 22, 1956. ly and I recall him as being an exceeding- As the hospital archivist I was asked ly hardworking house officer." Dr. Bu!ton to give a brief talk on the history of the A. Russman of Chicago, who also attended award at the annual awards dinner held on rnedical school r'ith Dr. Epstein, said he June 25, 1981. My remarks \.'ere later pub- r..a vc! ]/ '- individual wi th a lished in the hospitalrs Pharmacy Newslet- good sense of humor, well liked...by his ter. Because Dr. Epsteinrs Jewish faith fe1low classmates. , . .rl was largely reponsible for his being at Onp inrprpcr ino dpcerinrinn nF nr Cook County Hospital, I chought his sad Epstein was provided by Dr. Roger A. Ott story would be of interest to the nembers of Dubuque, Towa: "He was a very likeable of the Chicago Jewish Historical Society. fe11ow, short in stature, and wore the I have, therefore, revised the article and usual Cook County internrs uniform, which included new information fnr nlhl ir:r:on consisted of a borrowed white shlrt and in Soc iety News. tattered white pants, patched over and over, Story Begins in Vienna nany trnes. J remember fol lowing him back to the hospital after lunch on a Prior to World War 1I, Vienna, Aus- number of occasions, and a stethoscope tria, was home to a large Jewish popula- usually dangled from his right rear pocket.rl tion and it was here that Julius Epstein was born on August 20, 1893. He obtained Dis satis fied Patient Seeks Revenge a Doctor of La\rs degree from the Universi- During part of his internship, Dr. ty of Vienna and, around 1922, began a Epstein was assigned to ward 24 (Male Sur- lega1 career. In 1928, he uurried Edith gery). On January 6, L956, Jim Go, a Pollacsek. Their only chiId, Bruno Eric, Chinese-American laborer, was admitted to was born on February 21, 1931. In Janu- the ward for repair of a ventral hernia. ary of 1933, Adolf ltitler became Chancel- This was done on January 27, and Go was lor of Germany, and one of his major goals released on February 9. Go continued to was the annexation of Austria. This was experience much pain and believed that he accomplished in March of 1938 and led to was going ro die. He, therefore, decided the Nazi persecution of Austrian Jews. to kill one or two of the doctors who had In August of 1939, several v,/eeks be- treated him. One of these was Dr. Epstein. fore the start of Wcrld War II in Europe, ln/ashington's Birthday, February 22, the Epsteins emigrated to the United States was a holiday and Dr. Epstein was not They settled in Chicago and Julius Epstein scheduled to work. Another doctor wanted began a new caleer as a cashier with the the day off to visit his family, so Dr. Ge1ler Drug Company. Mrs. Epstein, a Epstein agreed to work in his place. Ear- graduate of the Imperial Academy of Music lier that day, Jim Co had purchased trnro in Vienna, gave piano lessons. They work- six-inch butcher knives. In the afternoon, ed hard and saved their money so that he went to Ward 24 and asked to see Dr. Bruno could have a good education. He Epstein. Since Dr. Epstein was not on the altended Roosevelt High School, received a ward at that tiue. Go was asked to wait B,A. (with honors) in Biolosical Sciences in the hall. 5

ed by such an accident. No one knows bet- ter than l do the grief a father and nother must feel at his loss." Setting Up a Memorial Fund

A Bruno Epstein Memorial Fund was started by several interns and residents. Dr. Mishkin states, "I cannot recall whose idea it was to do something in his memory, but I do remember that we were all inter- ested in participating in sone type of rnemorial...." At a medical staff meeting on April 2, L956, Dr. Isadore Pilot was asked to draw up a plan for a suitable memorial . Dr. Pilot suggested "a memorial in the form of an annual achievement award to a resident or intern at County who had been outstandlng in his r^rork and the care of the patients." His plan was approved and in June of Dr. Bruno Epstein--a tragic foo!note 1957 two plaques were dedicated in Karl to local Je\rish hisrory. Meyer Hall. One was in memory of Dr. Ep- Stabbed with Butcher Knife stein and the other was .to be inscribed with the nanes of the recipienEs of the hlhen Dr. Epstein returned, he and a Dr. Bruno Eric Epstein Intern Achievement surgical resident met with Go to discuss Award . his problem. Dr. Epstein tried to find a In order for contributions to the vacant examining roorn but all were in use, Epstein Memorial Fund to be tax-deductible, so he told co to again wait in the haLl. Dr. Pilot suggested that it be sponsored Thinking that he was being denied treat- by the Hektoen Institute for Medical Re- ment, Go becane angry and yelled, t'you search of the Cook County Hospital and by cut me! Now I cut you!" He then pulled the Phi Delta Epsilon Foundation of Chica- a knife and stabbed Dr. Epstein in the go. The fund collected nearly $3,000, chest and the abdomeo. A struggle ensued This r.ras used to purchase the plaques in as a male and a female nurse tried to eet Meyer Hal1 and plaques to be presented to the knife away from Go. A resident phy- the award recipients. Occasionally, rnon- sician finally subdued him by hitting hirn etary gifts of about $100 were also pre- over the head lrith a chair. Other doctors sented to the recipients. tried to save Dr. Epstein, but he died around 3: 30 P.M. First Award Given in 1956 At an inquest the next day, a coro- The first award was presented to Dr. ner's jury returned a murder verdict Ott on June 26, 1956. According to Dr. against Go and recommended that he be Ott, "My wife had scheduled a couple to held for the grand jury. co was taken to come for dinner on the Award night, so I a cell in the psychiatric tier at the did not plan to attend Ehe dinner. Durins Cook County Jail, where he hanged himself the evening, T received a calI from Dr. on February 28. George Blaha to make a hurry-up trip down The death of Dr. Epstein was, accord- to the Karl Meyer Ha1l. When I reached ing to Dr. Russman, "...a sincere shock the dining hall, I was informed I was the to everybody that knew him. His family first recipient of the Bruno Epstein had had many other difficulties and this Achievement Award, much to my surprise and \,/as yet another tragedy in their 1ives." anazement. The plaque was accompanied by Dr. Karl A. Meyer, medical superintendent a check for $125, which in those days \,/as of the hospital, wrote to an ernployee of extremely appreciated because our monthly the Geller Drug Company, "T knew this salary was $25. " young man very well as he was on my ser- When the award began, physicians were vice during part of his training. He was trained under a rotating internship which a very industrious and intelligent young consisted of three months in Medicine. Ban, aad certainly all of us are deDress- I Cont inued on page 7 -1 o THESELF-HELP HO|VIE FOR THE AGED: AN UNUSUALFACILITY CREATEDTOHOUSE VICTINS OF NAZI PERSECUTION The story of the t ragic deaLh of young Chi- Home for the Aged and uoved into a con- Bruno Epstein and its afternath, cagoan Dr. verted mansion aL 4949 r'hich appears elsevhere in this issu€, includes Drexel Boulevard. the fact that his father, currently aged 91 There vrere initially 19 residents, but years, lives in the Self-Eelp Hone for the Aged grorr'th required the building of an addi- north side. on chicago's tion in 1957, known R€ference to the Self-llelp Home reninded as the Becker lJing. the editor that f€r of our leaders are awale of Increased demand and changing neigh- this unique institution or th€ role that it borhoods caused the move to a newly-con- plays in Chicago Jelrish history. He therefore structed enlisted the assistance of the horners longtine building at 908 Argyle in 1963. executive director, Dorothy Becker' who kindly There residents were housed in a modern. assisted in the pr€pararion of the acconpanying purpose-bui lt structure. That same year, Dr. Becker's widow Dorothy assumed the large number of Jewish refugees The executive directorship of the home, a po- began arriving in fron Nazi Germany who s it ion she sti1l holds. Chicago (and elsewhere in the United What "Self-He1p" Means States) in the middle 1930ts were an ener- getic and gifted group. They almost innned- What made the home unusual from its iately became self-supporting and develop- earliest days was the self-heIp concept ed religious and coqmunal institutions of which enabled residents to lead indepen- their own. Among these none is more vital dent lives in a caring group envilonment, or typical of this achievement than the They live in apartmert settings, perforn- Self-Help Home for the Aged at 908-20 Ar- ing household tasks of cooking and clean- gyle Street. ing to the exten! they can and thus re- Its genesis and its fine record of main active individuals instead of becom- 'i^^ TL.'^ L^^ service in fhe provision of a chen h-igh1y rlraa ^Li^^i^uu lsLLr ^f ^^-^ LV'TLEPL^^-^^-+ LrdJ unusual facility for senior citizens form since been widely imitated both loca1 1y an important chapter in Chicago Jewish and elsewhere. history. Ten years ago, during the presidency of Frederick Aufrecht, funds were raised Outgrowlh of Refugee Organization for an adjoining building, which enabled WhaL is today an iupressive home for the Self-He1p Home to raise its occupancy aged victims of Nazi Persecution who be- limit to 170. The top two floors of rhis came residents of greater Chicago had its nine-story building provide nursing facil- origins in a different sort of orgartiza- ities for those residents who need them. Eion first founded in another part of the It is now Self-Help's plan to build an counf,ry. apartment addition to its present facili- Spl f-Heln for Emisres fron CenEral ties in order to accotrmodate more resi- Europe was founded in New York in 1936 by dent s . a distinguished group of German refugees Maintains Independence and Sel f-Reliance as a mutual aid society concerned ltith em- ployment poss ibil it ies, housing assistance' Throughout the years the home has help for the sick, child-care and even the continued ro emphasize the self-help exchange of clothing among recent Jewish principle upon which it was created. This refugees. T\,ro years later a Self-Ile1p of is typified both by the lives led by its Chicago was established under the leader- residents and by the manner in which the ship of Dr. Walter Friedlaender, then of home is operated and controlled. The the University of Chicago ' not-for-profi! organization which runs it is independent of the various "uurbre1la" Ilome on South Side organizations the Chicago Jewish cormrunity In the years after the war, the lead- has created. Under its current president, ership passed to Dr. Williaur F. Becker Dr. Rolf A. Wei1, the group continues to and, as the refugees becane more secure raise its own funds, manage its own af- financially, the main focus of the organi- fairs and exemplify the srurdy independence zation changed to the provision of care which has become the hallmark of Chicagors for its elderly persons. In 1949 the refugee community of the Thirties and Chicago l{ome for Aged Inmigrants ltas found- For t ies . ed. In 1951 it was renamed the Self-Ile1p --Irwin J. Sulowav Admissionto the Self-HelpHome Please note that admission to the SeIf-Help Home for the Aged is carefully restricted to direct victims of the Nazi takeover in Gerrnany and the rest of EuroDe. It is thus Iimited to Jews leaving Germany subsequent to the 1933 assump!ion of power by the Nazis and to concentration caurp survivors. Since rhere is already a waiting list I of about 900 eligible individuals, the home is not I curren!1y able to accept addi_ t iona I aoolications.

(cont'd) Michael Slain Physlcian Kar.zen, who spcke ar the Septenber meetinq on Ehe corcr-burio"s or local Jeuish artists to the lrc photo I Cont inued from page 5J world. by Moselle A. Scheartz three uonths in Surgery, and six nonths in TALK,SLIDE SHOl^l ON ARTISTS PROVE the Specialties. During the 1960's and POPULARAT SEPTEIV1BER 1970's, this system was gradually replaced IVIEETING by a srraighr internship in which moit Textof Informativepresentation physiciaos trained in only one medical specialty. As a result, it became increas- PrintedElsewhere in This Issue ingly difficulr for rhe Medical Education Committee to choose only one rec ipient The contributions of 1ocal Jewish from among the various specialties. There- painters and sculptors were discussed and fore, in 1975, the Co:rynittee changed the displayed to an interested audience at aLrard so that each department could choose the Fal1 meeting of the Chicago Jewish a recipient. The number of recipients Historical Society on September 16, varied from five to eight per year. The Sunday afternoon gathering at Spertus Coi lege featured a survey of the works of Chicago Jewish Difficult ies Result in Changes artists during the past forty years given by Michael Karzen, In the early 1980's, there were prob- president of the Anerican Jewish Art Club. lems in several departments over the se- He followed his talk with a slide presen- lection of recipients. After sruch dis- tation of represenlative works by some of cussion, the Medical Education Committee the artists mentioned. decided to discontinue the a\,,/ard and to The text of Mr. Karzen's talk is re- find another method of honoring the memory produced as a permanent record elsewhere of Dr. Epstein. On July 13, 1983, rhe in this issue of Society News. Committee voted to name the former doctorrs The speaker was it troduced by program lounge in Meyer HaIl in menory of Dr. Ep- Chairman Burt Robin, and a brief question stein. The lounge will be renovated for period followed the presentation. The use by the hospital's medical library and usual pre-meeting refreshments were provid- dedicated at a future date. Since Dr. ed under the supervision of Hospitalitv Epstein was an excell ent student, th is is Chairman Shirley Sorkin, president Norman an appropriate way for Cook County Hospi- Schwart z chaired the meeting. tal to honor him. Mr. Karzen, whose talk was informa- tive, interesting and well-presented, dis_ Edith Epstein died in 1975, bur cussed recent movements in art in a c1ear. Julius Epstein sti11 resides in Chicago. non-techn ical manner. A distineuished He now lives in the Self-Help Home for the artist hinself, he is a product of the Art Aged, and the Executive Director s!ates lnstitute and the University of Chicago that at 91 years he a remarkable man." "is and currently teaches at Clemente High So was his unfortunate years son, whose School in Chicago. were far fewer. __r r c THREEGENERATIONS OF JEWISH ARTISTS CONTRIBUTE TO LOCALACHIEVEIVIINTS IN ART DURINGPAST FORTY YEARS SomeChoose These two artisrs effectively ushered in Jet^tishSubjects; the involvement of the Jewish artist into OthersFocus Interests Elsewhere the life of the city. Geller, over the following decades By Michael Karzen unril his death in 1949, was to become known as the dean of Chicago Jewish artists. The richness that is the Chicago Jew- His insistence on the reality of a Jewish ish contribution to Ehe city's arE is at art; the power of his personality; his best rather staggering and at least the studio on Pearson Street that attracted so very impressive. many writers, artists and creative pelson- A subject as broad and varied as the alities; and his impressive teaching, which contributions of local Jewish artists influenced such artists as Michell Siporin, since 1940 cannot be covered thoroughly in Aaron Bohrod and Henry Siuon, made his in- an attempt such as this. So I have selec- pact broad, profound and lasting. ted several artists whose work reflects, Producing "Jewish Art " in ny view, a good deal of the best pro- duced over the past forty years and more Together \dith Ge11er, Leon Garland, in this c ity. A. Raymond Katz and--a bit later--David Bekker form the group most connitted to Three Generat ions of Artists producing "Jewish Art,rr an art that they T have decided to break the group believed gre\r out of the historical exper- into three separate parts because we are ience of the Jew. cons idering essentially three different Most of the other artists of the time, Thnnoh rhara i< though nor denying their Jewish roots, an overlapping of themes, dates, activi- s/ere more concerned with developing their ties and preoccupations, each generation own personal styles and visions that ulti- oade its own unique statement, which was mately would include some reference to in great measure conditioned by the his- Jewish thematic material and related ideas. toric and cultural period in which it found Such artists as Sam Greenburg, Maurice and j.tself . The images of, say, a Todros Louise Yochim, ErniI Armin, MitcheLI Sipor- Geller and David Bekker grow out of an in, Aaron Bohrod, Harry Mintz and William environment nuch closer to European and Schwartz moved in that direction. Judaic roots and differ substantially from Jewish Groups Form the surreal images of an Irving Petlin or the hunanistic concerns of a Leon Golub It should be noted that a sense of forty years later. cultural jdentity felt by aII the Jewish The Jewish contribution to Chicaeo artists, sparked by a visit to the city of arc begins in the early and niddle I9t0's Abel Pann, a colleague of Boris Shatz, the when a growing number of Jewish immiqrant founder of the Bazalel School of Art in artists conciuded or were in the midst of Jerusalem. lesulted in the formation of a their training at the Art Instilute of group called "Around the Palette' in 1926. Chicaeo. It was in this group that the artists would come together to discuss issues im- Armin Geller Blaze the Tra il Portant to th em. Enil Arnin, lhe oldest of the artists Later sti1l, in 1940. after rhe rise (he was born in Austria in 1883), studied of Nazi Germany, the Jewish artists felt at the Institute flom 1916-20 after earlier a renewed sense of cultural pride and re- part-time study and \ras active in a nuuber named their group "The American Je\rish Alt of the early art movements of the 1920ts. Club.rr The club ro this day holds exhibi- His rather prirnitive and naive, energetic tions throughout the Chicago area and style was much admired by his contemporar- meets frequently for lively discussions ies. with their nembership and other ar!ists. Todros Ge1ler, slightly younger (born Artistic Palhs Diverge in 193Ors in 1889 in the Ukraine) than Aruin, stud- ied at the Art Institure from 1918-1924. Because of their varied temDeraments 9

t and interests, the artists of the 1930rs the 1950 s or a 1ittle earlier. They, too, as s imi lated different stylistic influences. vary in the ir style and art is t ic vision. Some were authentic expressionists reveal- Jewish Themes Become Less Prominent ing highly personalized reflections of reality, as in the case of Sam Greenburg. Of the five artists in this gloup only Others took on the look of the regionalist one, Fred Rappaport, carries on the tradition and social realism of the time. Aaron of Geller, Bekker, Garland and Katz Bohrod, Mitchell Siporin and Harry Mintz in that his najor preoceupation is are good examples of this interes!. with Jewish ideas, history and thematic material The repional ist exnressed a sense of . In a word. he celebrates our national pride that focused on the smal1 tradit ion . town and landscape of the Middle West. A Victor Perlmutter, another of the five, (the somewhat kindred movement cal1ed social was in his early work late 40's realism dealt with the economic, political and early 50's) sruch concerned with Jewish material. and social ills of the urban and national Using a cubistic style some- times laced scene. These latter two styles and con- with a lyric expressionism, he created cerns \arere readily apparent in the Federal a wealth of lrorks dealins with Jew- ish subjects. governmentrs W.P.A. mural program that em- In his larer styII, cubism gave ployed hundreds of artists throushout the way to abstract expressionism and c ity in the 1930rs. the work of the 1960rs and early 1970rs owes its major debt to this artistic phil- Surrealism and Abstractionrsm osophy.

Sti11 other artists moved torrard a A Pa ir of Artist-Teachers world of fantasy and the inner inagination. Formally cal1ed surrealisn, their concerns Lillian Deson Fishbein and Ann Rornan Siegel were philosophical, psychological and pro- are two artists of the middle per- iod who have vocative. Among the Chicago School's ear- exercised considerable in- fluence liest Jewish artists, Henry Simon was to not only as exceptionally creative artists distinguish himself later through this whose work has had a wide and ap- preciative artistic vision, Bohrod and Mintz would audience for nearly three dec- ades later develop further--into a neo-realist but also because of their inportance as teachers. and surrealist in the case of Bohrod and a Both Fishbein and Rouan have taught privately peripheral abstract-express ionist in the for many years, and a case of Mintz. number of important new talents have coue from their William S. Schwartz, an opera singer classes. Both as well as an artist, combined a style of Ehese artists are essentially figurative partially derivative of the modern cubist in their approach, though Rouran went through synthesized wi rh curious l ight effecEs, and continues a long love af- fair with perhaps growing out of his theatrical back- abstract expressionism. Fish- bein's ground. Later, Schwartz was to develop concerns revolve around humanistic, political the "synphonic abstractsrr that were his and social issues; while Ronan is prirnarily response to the abstract-expressionist re- concerned with experimenta- volut ion of the 1940rs. tion in media and visual irnagery, though a fundamental humanistic optimism pervades Jewishness Manifest in Earlier Artists her work. Both display a power and depth soneEines erroneously Chought Co be re- These artists comprise the first served for their uale coun[erDarEs. eration of Chicago Je\rish art: Armin, Ge1- ler, Garland, Bekker, Katz, Greenburg, the A Monumental Sculpt or Yochims, Siporin, Mintz and Schwartz. Finally Mi Iton Horn, the sole sculp- They were different in expression, but as tor in the crowd, a Chicagoan since the Ge1ler might put it, their Jewishness was Iater I940's and a maker of public art manifest in different ways throughout that decorates municipal buildings as well their work. as synagogue interiors and exteriors, The 'rFxf prorrn of ertists we wil I brings to his art a powerful expressionis- consider comprises what I have referred to tic style that emphasizes energy, movement, as the second generation of Chicago Jewish intensity, humanity and monumentality. A artists. Some of them are a decade or so man of personal passion. articulateness younger and rose to artistic maturi!y in lContinued on page 10J IO ThreeGenerations of LocalJewish Artists (cont'd)

[Continued from page 9J ably the most intellectual of the group, a graduate lnstitute and principle, Horn has \rr:itten extensive- of the and the Univer- Iy about ar!. and its meaning, His studio sity of Chicago, also employs surreal, en- ignatic displays his cormritment to public art in and dream-1ike images in his rich- 1y perplexing, painEerly the grand historical tradit ion. very works. These artists, Rappaport , Perluutter, Concern with Public Problems Continues Fishbein, Ronan and Horn, courprise the second generation of Chicago Jewish artists When we turn to the work of Leon Golub and Leo Segedin, we see tr.ro artists Artists of the Third Genera!ion whose concern for social, political and humanistic PreeminenE auong the third genera- issues dominates their efforts. tion of artists is Seymour Rosofsky, an Golub, a Chicago native and teacher in the artist, I believe, who stands at the sum- City Junior College system for a time in the later mit not only among Chicago Jewish artists niddle 1950's. moved to New York but above all his contemporaries. In my and has spent Eime in Europe during the view, Seymour was the most important art- intervening decades. His r,rork was first ist to come out of Chicago since the Sec- shown nationally in 1958 at a very inrport- ond World War. Unfortunately, health ant return-to-the-figure exhibition at the problems terminated his life at the rela- Museum of Modern Art in New York. Since tively young age of 56 in 1981. Rosofsky's then, he has shown extensively. Golub's extraordinary draughtsmanship coupled with concern is essentially manrs decline. His palette a superb printing technique put to the works, done with a linited and paletce (the service of a richly imaginative and learn- heavy use of kniFe surface is ed intellect stanps hitrl as a master anong often severely abused), show man as a his peers. bloodied and battered figure in a world going The post-Second World War period has noral ly and spiritually bankrupt. seen the rise in Chicago of a school of Segedin's concerns paralle 1 Golubrs; painting thaE places great emphasis on however, his canvases convey a more class- surreal-Iike or fantastic images. This ical approach . His interest in space, preoccupation can be observed in the works color and textural surfaces give his works of Irving Petlin, Curr Frankenstein and a Iusher, more pictorial quality than rhe George Cohen. A graduate of the ArB fn- Golub paintings. They, too, scream out graduated stitute, Petlin in the middle to us of the human tragedy of our age. In 1950's fron Tuley High School \.'here Sam his latest work, Segedin has moved toward Greenburg was his teacher and has been a more philosophical, cooler, orore inEel- successful in shoL's both here and in Eur- lectual posEure. His work is, 1 believe, ope s ince shortly thereafter. sadly unfarniliar to many art viewers and Surrealism Cormon Among Later Artists this is most unfortunate. Pellin lives in a r^ror1d of haunting Visual and Psychological Chal lenges images who inhabit strange provocative Rubin Steinberg is perhaps the rnost landscapes and interiors. The enigmatic unusual of the contemporary artists we qualiry of the imagery further heightens will see today. His work straddles the the roagical quality of these works. Some- line between craft and fine art, between times these paintings seem strangely trans- sculpture and painting. His works combine fused with contemporary syrnbolic social rope, Ieather, fibers, objects of alI and political significance as we11. kinds and paint in curious relationships Curt Frankenstein is still another of to each other. Sometimes almost surreal, the artists concerned r^'ith the surreal sometimes purely experimental , there is a inage. FrankensEein utilizes pol itical dry humor and satire that occasionally and social satire with genuine humor and peeks out. A lover of surfaces and cour- wit. This artist's superb and astonishing plexity, he challenges our total visual imagination is beautifully revealed by his involvement. masterful technical ski1ls. Judith Roth, a rising scar on the Chi-

And finally George Cohen, a professor L dlie dr ive of Bost on who of art at Northwestern Universitv and Drob- has lived in Chicago for more than twenty- 1t

JewishArtists (concluded) special in the Chicago art world. The third generation of Jer^rish art_ five years. In the past decade she has ists in Chicago thus consists of Rosofsky, begun to build an enviable record for her- Pet 1in, Frankenstein, Cohen, Segedin, se1f. Her wonderfully insightful expres- Golub, Steinberg, Roth and Shoshanna. sionistic drawings have moved viewers in ever increasing numbers. A linear descen- dant of Kathe Kollwitz and even of Tou- One final word. I would like to con- louse-Lautrec, she gives her work a prob- clude with a few more words about Louise ing psychological quality reminiscent of and Maurice Yochim. Both distinguished the best in figurative art. Her sensitive teachers and artists for nearly forty years, eye and expert hand reveal to us the es- Louise concluded her career as a consultant sence of her studies and their essential for the Chicago Board of Education and hunan i ty . Maurice as a professor of art at North- eastern Illinois University. A Un i que ArEistic FaniIy In recent years, Louise has written No presentation on Jewish artists in extensively about Chicago Jewish artists. Chicago would be complete without speak- These articles have appeared in the Sen- ing at least briefly about the considera- tinel Magazine.. She has also writte;- ble contributions of Jewish Chicagors volume on the role of the Chicago Society first arEistic family. Earlier Lhis after- of Artists and is presently completing a noon I spoke of Mitcirel I Siporin, one of book on Jewish Art in the United States, Ehe early Ieaders on the Chicago art scene. with a chapter devoted to the Chicago The Farnily Siporin has produced a splendid scene. I have had the pleasure of read- body of important work over the past forty ing her naterial and using some of it years or so, and not all of it was pro- in this presentation. This remarkable woman duced by the gifted Mirchel I . Jennie Sip- is performing a noble and valuable task-- orin, the mother of the family, started one which the Jewish coumrunity will come her career in her sixties and received to praise and treasure as the years go much praise and many awards for her primi- on. We are all in her debt. tive, yet sophisticated and colorful, r ------T paintings until her death in the early 1970rs. Mitche11. after the Second World War, rnoved to the East Coast, \a'here he Yesl I WantTo ContinueTor worked and served as chairman and profe.s- sor in the art departuent at Brandeis Uni- . Be inforded of CJHS neeEings versity for twenty years. . Learn oore abou! local Jel'ish History Shoshanna Siporin Hoffman (she ca1ls . herself Shoshanna and has, professionally, Receive issues of Society Neus since the very beginning of her career) e Enjoy local suornet tours a! reduced ra!es was the youngest of the artists to found the American Jewish Art Club in 1940. In her early twenties she was already showing Enclosed is my check for $_ for oy 1985 in the Art lnstitute American shows and on dues. ($I5,00 regular; 910.00 senior citizen or the East Coast. A student of Boris Anis- student; $25.00 insrirutional or sustaining; field (Rosofsky and other Chicago artists $50.00 patron; glOO.OOsponsor) Dues are tix- deductible. srudied wirh Anisfield in the 1940's) at the Art lnstiEute, Shoshannats very person- Name a1 style suggests expressionistic elements \^'ith a love of color, a personal inventive- Address ness and a remarkably intellectual and re- city, srare, zip flective mind. Shoshannars son, Joshua, is a young, Renewal /-7 dynanic sculptor york just in New who has Clip and Mail ro: courpleted a three-year Rockefeller Fe1low- Chicago Jewish His tor ica I ship and is Society engaged in a number of import- 618 S. Michigan Avenue and cosmissions. It is quite evident that Chicago, IL 60605 the Siporin/Hoffman family is somewhat