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West Point Professor to Examine Crucial Roles Played by Jews in Early Hungarian Sound Film

(PDF) (DOC) (JPG)March 5, 2013

(MAHWAH, NJ) – The presentation titled “‘Without the Jews, how will we produce Christian culture?’ Nation and anti-Semitism in the Wartime Cinema of Hungary” will be given by Professor David Frey at Ramapo College of New Jersey on Thursday, March 28 from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. in the Trustees Pavilion. The program is sponsored by the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and History Club of Ramapo College.

Frey is an associate professor of History at the United States Military Academy at West Point. His talk will examine the birth, unexpected ascendance and wartime collapse of Hungary’s cinema and place it within a peculiar international context that involves the interplay of Hungarian cultural and political elites, Jewish film professionals and financiers, Nazi officials and global film moguls. Frey will demonstrate that although it intended to contribute to forging a national culture, Hungary’s film industry became mired in contradictions of its own making, including those inherent to racial nationalism based in anti-Semitism.
 
Frey earned his Ph.D. in Central European History at Columbia University. I.B. Tauris will publish his manuscript, “Jews, Nazis, and the Cinema of Hungary: The Tragedy of Success, 1929-44,” later this year. His articles have appeared in numerous journals and edited volumes, including the award-winning “Cinema and the Swastika.” Last fall, he was in Hungary as a Fulbright Scholar researching Hungarian-American relations between 1944 and 1951.  He directs the new Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at West Point, spearheading efforts among the service academies to integrate Holocaust and Genocide Studies into their curricula and to help the Department of Defense develop education and training programs related to understanding and preventing mass atrocity.

The presentation is free and open to the public. For more information or to reserve a seat, please call 201.684.7409.

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About Ramapo College

Ramapo College of New Jersey is the state’s premier public liberal arts college and is committed to academic excellence through interdisciplinary and experiential learning, and international and intercultural understanding. The comprehensive college is situated among the beautiful Ramapo Mountains, is within commuting distance to New York City, was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful College Campuses in America by CondeNast Traveler, and boasts the best on-campus housing in New Jersey per Niche.com. Established in 1969, Ramapo College offers bachelor’s degrees in the arts, business, data science, humanities, social sciences and the sciences, as well as in professional studies, which include business, education, nursing and social work. In addition, the College offers courses leading to teacher certification at the elementary and secondary levels, and offers graduate programs leading to master’s degrees in Accounting, Applied Mathematics, Business Administration, Contemporary Instructional Design, Computer Science, Creative Music Technology, Data Science, Educational Leadership, Nursing, Social Work and Special Education, as well as a Doctor of Nursing Practice.

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