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SAISON 2, ÉPISODE 1

The Committee

In 1938, as fascism continued to spread across Europe and Asia, the Dies Committee was formed to investigate "subversive activities" within the United States. The committee, headed by Texas Democrat Martin Dies, was tasked with targeting Nazi sympathizers, but soon shifted its primary focus to rooting out those they believed to have communist ties, and paved the way for a second American red scare. Narrated by Rebecca Naomi Jones and featuring Matthew Dallek, author of Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right. Episode Image: American Nazi Party marches in support of HUAC. From the Abraham Shoenfeld Papers at AJHS, P-884 The Wreckage is made possible by funding from the Ford Foundation. Additional funding is provided through the American Jewish Education Program, generously supported by Sid and Ruth Lapidus.

S2, É1

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27 min
BANDE-ANNONCE SAISON 1

Introducing The World in Front of Me with Bill Aron

In the summer of 2025, journalist and writer Ruth Andrew Ellenson sat down with famed photographer Bill Aron, and recorded more than 12 hours of interviews. For nearly 50 years, Bill traveled the world, photographing Jewish communities as near as his home of Los Angeles, and as far away as the Soviet Union. From the American South to Cuba, from New York to Jerusalem, Bill captured it all. This series reveals never before heard stories from the artist himself. The American Jewish Historical Society presents The World in Front of Me with Bill Aron, hosted by Ruth Andrew Ellenson. The World in Front of Me is presented by Jay and Gretchen Stein, with generous support from the Knapp Family Foundation, the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation in Honor of Alan Bloch, Scott and Dianne Einhorn, The Karetsky Family, and Michael and Corie Koss.

Bande‑annonce de la S1

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2 min
10 MARS

Cuba

In 1978 Bill traveled with a group to Cuba looking to document Jewish life there. The Jewish population, once robust and diverse, had shrunken to an estimated 1500 people under the rule of Fidel Castro. Cuba's official atheistic state had driven out or discouraged many people from taking part in a religious life. Upon reaching Havana, Bill discovered that while a handful of synagogues remained open, they had small, aging congregations due to social pressures from the state. The size of the community had no adverse impact on the observance that Bill witnessed; rather, he found that the Cuban Jews he met were passionately dedicated and their services were all the more meaningful. Even more remarkable, Bill found that a skill he had picked up in the Peace Corps became unexpectedly invaluable: his ability to speak Turkish! The Jewish population in Cuba included Turkish-speaking immigrants from the Ottoman Empire, who left or fled due to an increase in antisemitism during the Empire's fall and dissolution. While visiting a synagogue in Havana, Bill met a woman named Celia, and, in an effort to avoid using the state-provided translator, the pair discovered this mutually shared language. AJHS Executive Director Gemma Birnbaum joins us for historical commentary on the Jewish population of Cuba and the country's political relationship with the United States. The World in Front of Me is presented by Jay and Gretchen Stein, with generous support from the Knapp Family Foundation, the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation in Honor of Alan Bloch, Scott and Dianne Einhorn, The Karetsky Family, and Michael and Corie Koss. Image Credit: Celia, Havana, Cuba, 1978, Bill Aron.

10 mars

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19 min
17 FÉVR.

The American South

In the early 1990's Bill Aron was approached by Macy Hart and Vicki Reikes Fox of the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience to document Jewish life in the American South. Never having spent much time in that area of the world, Bill figured that the project would be completed rather quickly, "South, deep South—how many Jews could there be? One or two trips, it'll be done." The project would last over a decade and result in a book Shalom, Y'all: Images of Jewish Life in the American South, which was published in 2002, as well as an exhibition that was on view at institutions like the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York, and the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience in New Orleans. Project director and author Vicki Reikes Fox joins us to give her commentary on the project, along with current Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience Director Kenneth Hoffman, for historical context. Bill shares stories about southern cooking, intermarriage, mercantile salesmen, and matchmaking. The World in Front of Me is presented by Jay and Gretchen Stein, with generous support from the Knapp Family Foundation, the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation in Honor of Alan Bloch, Scott and Dianne Einhorn, The Karetsky Family, and Michael and Corie Koss. Image Credit: Henrietta Levine Chopped Chicken Liver, Pine Bluff, AR, 1991, Bill Aron.

17 févr.

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21 min
17 MARS

Israel

Bill has traveled to Israel numerous times since his first visit as an undergraduate in 1961. In 1980, and again in 2010, he returned, no longer a student, but a professional photographer, seeking to capture everyday life in historic spaces. With each trip, Bill's stories provide a unique perspective of not only an individual growing and maturing, but also his experience witnessing a country age and transform. From a young student hitchhiking to a professional photographer capturing daily life outside the Damascus Gate. We learn how Israel inspired Bill to experiment as an artist, from abstract photography to harnessing new technology to create giant panoramas. Commentary from Michael Brenner, the Lillian Abensohn Chair of Israel Studies at American University in Washington D.C. will provide historical context to the changes that Bill encounters with each passing visit. The World in Front of Me is presented by Jay and Gretchen Stein, with generous support from the Knapp Family Foundation, the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation in Honor of Alan Bloch, Scott and Dianne Einhorn, The Karetsky Family, and Michael and Corie Koss. Image Credit: Western Wall, Jerusalem, 1980, Bill Aron.

17 mars

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27 min
3 FÉVR.

Introducing Bill Aron

From a young age, Bill Aron was drawn to photography, but never considered it as a career. Losing his father and mother in childhood, he was pulled by a desire to freeze time and capture moments, a power he discovered in photographs. After completing his PhD in sociology at the University of Chicago, he found himself spending more time in darkrooms and behind a camera than doing any work related to his field. As a young man, he was deeply influenced by the heyday of street photography in 1960s and 1970s New York, and was inspired by two distinct Jewish communities he found inhabiting the city: the Jewish immigrants of the Lower East Side, and Upper West Side Jews who were creating a new counter-culture movement known as the Havurah. It was in this Upper West Side community where he met our host, Ruth Andrew Ellenson - or Ruthie, as he knows her. Their familial relationship would span decades. As Bill's career took off, he became known for his work documenting Jewish life, including Ruthie's personal milestones and Jewish rites of passage (complete with questionable fashion choices that she bemoans seeing printed 5 feet high). Now an author and journalist, Ruthie sat down with Bill to learn about his life's work, and the stories that accompany his incredible career. In this first episode, host Ruth Andrew Ellenson introduces us to photographer Bill Aron, and the world he found in front of him. The World in Front of Me is presented by Jay and Gretchen Stein, with generous support from the Knapp Family Foundation, the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation in Honor of Alan Bloch, Scott and Dianne Einhorn, The Karetsky Family, and Michael and Corie Koss. Image credit: Marvin Steindler

3 févr.

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17 min
SAISON 2, ÉPISODE 5

The Defendants

On April 5, 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death under the Espionage Act of 1917. The couple was accused of spying for the Soviet Union and providing classified information about nuclear weapons, radar, sonar, and jet propulsion engines. The trial, which was presided over by Judge Irving Robert Kaufman, captured international attention. Narrated by Rebecca Naomi Jones and featuring Martin J. Siegel, author of Judgment and Mercy: The Turbulent Life and Times of the Judge Who Condemned the Rosenbergs. Image: Cover of brochure produced by the National Committee to Secure Justice for Morton Sobell. From the Committee to Free Morton Sobell Collection at AJHS, I-356. The Wreckage is made possible by funding from the Ford Foundation. Additional funding is provided through the American Jewish Education Program, generously supported by Sid and Ruth Lapidus.

S2, É5

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23 min
10 FÉVR.

The Soviet Union

In 1981, Bill Aron went to the Soviet Union to photograph Jewish people living behind the Iron Curtain. Many of these Jews were refuseniks who had applied to leave the USSR but were denied, and as a consequence were subject to harassment, lost their jobs, and in some cases, were even imprisoned. Bill traveled to Moscow, Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), and Minsk and photographed the Jewish life that was persisting despite hostility from the government. In this episode, Ruth Andrew Ellenson interviews Bill about his experience with surveillance, bluffing his way through a meeting at Belarus Film Institute, and photographing in a synagogue on Yom Kippur. Bill was humbled to meet so many people who, despite the great risk and personal cost, still chose to observe their Jewish faith. After the Soviet Union fell, many of the refuseniks he met relocated to Israel, where Bill has had the opportunity to reunite with them years later. Featuring historical commentary from Shaul Kelner, Professor of Jewish Studies and Sociology at Vanderbilt University. The World in Front of Me is presented by Jay and Gretchen Stein, with generous support from the Knapp Family Foundation, the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation in Honor of Alan Bloch, Scott and Dianne Einhorn, The Karetsky Family, and Michael and Corie Koss. Image: Minsk Sukkah, Former Soviet Union, Bill Aron.

10 févr.

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23 min
3 MARS

Personal Transformations

Bill lost both his parents at a young age; his father when he was 9 years old, and his mother when he was in high school. When Bill was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 50, a part of him felt that this was a foregone conclusion. In an effort to feel less isolated, Bill began to seek support and connect with others who were also battling cancer, and those who had gone into remission. What he encountered surprised him. Cancer patients and survivors saw their experience as an opportunity to change their lives for the better. Inspired by their fortitude and optimism, Bill set out to capture the portraits and stories of these survivors in what would become the book New Beginnings: The Triumphs of 120 Cancer Survivors. Bill and Ruthie discuss the power of photography to freeze time, and its ability to take an ephemeral moment and make it last. A family photograph from Bill's childhood allows him to travel back in time, and today he documents his own family, creating a kind of time capsule that his own sons will be able to travel back to. The World in Front of Me is presented by Jay and Gretchen Stein, with generous support from the Knapp Family Foundation, the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation in Honor of Alan Bloch, Scott and Dianne Einhorn, The Karetsky Family, and Michael and Corie Koss. Image Credit: Brandon Schott, 2009, Bill Aron.

3 mars

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20 min
SAISON 2, ÉPISODE 2

The Unionists

The film, television, and theater industries were represented by some of the largest unions in the United States, and in the late 1940s, with the full cooperation of Screen Actors Guild President Ronald Reagan, organizations like the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Values sought to root out what they deemed the communist threat in entertainment. Unions from other industries were also targeted, and a narrative that communist infiltration was the true root cause of contemporary labor conflicts was embraced by a number of American politicians. Narrated by Rebecca Naomi Jones and featuring Thomas Doherty, author of Show Trial: Hollywood, HUAC, and the Birth of the Blacklist. Image: Strikers on the picket line at Warner Bros., in the early morning hours before violence broke out, October 5, 1945. Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images The Wreckage is made possible by funding from the Ford Foundation. Additional funding is provided through the American Jewish Education Program, generously supported by Sid and Ruth Lapidus.

S2, É2

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18 min

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Meilleures émissions

The Committee

Introducing The World in Front of Me with Bill Aron

Cuba

The American South

Israel

Introducing Bill Aron

The Defendants

The Soviet Union

Personal Transformations

The Unionists

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