Boston College

Last summer, Creating Harmony: the Displaced Persons’ Orchestra at St. Ottilien, by veteran filmmaker and professor of fine arts John Michalczyk with coproducer Ronald Marsh of the Burns Library, premiered at the New York Museum of Jewish Heritage. The film is Michalczyk’s sequel to Displaced: Miracle at St. Ottilien, released in 2002. Both films portray events that took place in World War II’s aftermath at a Benedictine monastery, in Bavaria, that was used by the Allies as a hospital for concentration camp survivors—events of which Michalczyk became aware through army veteran Robert Hilliard.

Some eight years ago, by “sheer coincidence,” according to Michalczyk, he met Hilliard through a mutual colleague, and invited the World War II veteran, who had been stationed in postwar Germany, to speak to his “Holocaust and the Arts” class. Hilliard is author of Surviving the Americans (Seven Stories Press, 1996), which Library Journal called “an important corrective to the popular perception that beneficent liberators attended to the needs of Holocaust victims from the moment of their liberation.”

The veteran was, in Michalczyk’s words, “an incredible speaker,” and he had a story to tell: As a 19-year old army private, Hilliard teamed up with fellow GI Edward Herman in a letter-writing campaign to raise awareness of the deplorable conditions at St. Ottilien. The impassioned letter accused the allied occupiers of “continued genocide,” declaring that by failing to provide the minimal sanitary, medical, and nutritional needs of St. Ottilien’s patients, Americans were unwitting accomplices in “carrying out Hitler’s plan of destructarchives/03november/displaced.htm” target=”_blank”>ion of the Jews.” The young GIs’ letter came to the attention of President Harry S. Truman, who ordered the army to provide more resources to the camp, as reported on the front page of the September 30, 1945, New York Times. Michalczyk’s 2002 Displaced: Miracle at St. Ottilien tells this story. It was screened at numerous festivals and broadcast on Boston’s public television station WGBH.

Serendipity continued to lead Michalczyk to new material. With the help of Edward Herman he obtained photos, audio recordings, and other materials from Sonia Beker, daughter of violinist Max Beker and his wife, pianist Fania Durmashkin-Beker, accomplished musicians from Vilna who were among the Holocaust survivors at St. Ottilien. The Bekers organized a concert of musicians who had survived Nazi internment at St. Ottilien on May 27, 1945, which Hilliard attended and described as “a liberation concert at which most of the liberated people were too weak to stand.” The St. Ottilien musicians then traveled throughout Bavaria, performing in their concentration camp clothing for audiences at displaced persons camps. They attracted international attention and were invited to play for David Ben Gurion, soon to be Israel’s first prime minister, and the Nuremburg Tribunal. Leonard Bernstein came to conduct them. Sonia Beker became a consultant to Michalczyk for his latest film, which tells the orchestra’s story, and published her own account of her parents’ lives, Symphony on Fire: A Story of Music and Spiritual Resistance During the Holocaust (Wordsmithy, 2007), in conjunction with the release of the new documentary.

@BC presents an excerpt from Creating Harmony, which contains a reenactment of St. Ottilien musicians in performance. “I want viewers to understand the beauty of the music that uplifted survivors’ spirits after the tragedy of the Holocaust,” said Michalczyk. Creating such footage was among the most challenging aspects of crafting the film, he says, because it required extensive research and expense to stage the event with verisimilitude. He had the assistance of Hilliard’s son Mark, who has produced reenactments of historical events for A&E and the History Channel. The concentration camp clothing the musicians wear in the film was obtained from the Virginia Holocaust Museum. In the excerpt, “V’lirushalyaim” (To Jerusalem), by Vilem Zrzavy, is performed by members of the Terezin Chamber Music Ensemble and the Hawthorne String Quartet, the University’s resident string quartet. The Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline will screen the hour-long film in its entirety on May 1.

Earlier this year the Burns Library placed on exhibit materials from an extensive Bostoniana collection donated by Ellerton J. Brehaut (1897-1985). Publicly displayed for the first time were rare manuscripts, including notes on Boston life and politics by Edward H. Savage, the city’s police chief from 1870-78. The exhibit also included letters signed by John Phillips, Josiah Quincy, and Harrison Gray Otis, the first three mayors of Boston. Older selections included a 1790 Massachusetts lottery ticket—most states used lotteries to finance public works at that time.

Brehaut (pronounced Bree-oh) worked 40 years for the Boston Chamber of Commerce, and was an indefatigable collector of newspapers, magazine articles, books, pamphlets, city documents, maps, guidebooks, and manuscripts. He donated parts of his collection to the public library in his hometown of Danvers, including “the most complete collection of printed materials relating to the 1692 witchcraft hysteria in Salem,” according to the University of Virginia’s Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project. “Some of his collection ended up at Boston College,” according to the Burns exhibit announcement, “because he had taken note of a request for donations of material on Boston put in a Boston newspaper by Boston college librarian Father Brendan Connolly, SJ.”

@BC presents a slideshow of images from the Brehaut collection: photographs and illustrations of the Great Boston Fire, which broke out on November 9, 1872, at the corner of Summer and Kingston Streets and in the course of 15 hours gutted 65 acres of the city’s central and commercial district, destroying property valued at $75 million. The University’s Thomas H. O’Connor wrote in Boston A-Z (Harvard University Press, 2000), “Some 776 buildings had to be demolished, and insurance companies went bankrupt paying claims. Most of the downtown area had to be completely rebuilt and modernized.”

k

Total time: 4:00

Forty-four students on February 1 presented their research findings at the University’s second annual Undergraduate Research Symposium in Gasson Hall. Donald Hafner, vice provost for undergraduate studies, selected the participants from recipients of advanced study grants, contributors to the undergraduate scholarly journals Elements and Ethos, and faculty recommendations. Strolling through the Gasson rotunda on the day of the event, where several poster presentations were on display, Hafner said, “This is really just fabulous for Boston College and a real affirmation of the kind of students we have, and also of the terrific faculty mentoring they get.”

@BC presents an audio recording of four undergraduate researchers—Caroline Beimford ’10, Jennifer Engel ’09, Tyson Jang ’09, and Shahan Mamoor ’09—talking about their work.

Almost certainly, Matthew Ryan ’07—the player who has “everything you want in an NFL quarterback,” according to a recent Sporting News cover story—is just one month away from joining an NFL franchise, becoming the highest professional sports draft pick in Boston College history, and drawing a multimillion-dollar salary. As the Eagles’ quarterback for the better part of two and a half years, Ryan’s numbers were impressive by any measure. His 2007 season—in which he set Boston College’s single-season records for yards, touchdowns, and completions—garnered him the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, the Manning Award, and the ACC Player of the Year award. He also netted career touchdown and yard numbers that put him behind only Doug Flutie ’85 and Glenn Foley ’94 in University history.

But where those two were the 285th and 208th players picked in their respective NFL drafts, Ryan is likely to be among the top 10 draft picks, according to NFL scout Frank Coyle’s in Draft Insiders’ Digest. Represented by Tom Condon ’74, one of the NFL’s most successful agents, Ryan is projected as high as Number 1. Even if he drops to the Atlanta Falcons as the Number 3 pick, as many experts expect, he would still best Terry Driscoll ’69, drafted fourth in the 1969 NBA draft, as the highest draft pick for a Boston College athlete in any sport. Many fans will remember Ryan more for the moments than his numbers: his last-minute comebacks against Virginia Tech and Clemson, the Eagles’ first trip to an ACC championship, and three straight bowl wins, among others.

• Video of interview with Matt Ryan
• “Special Delivery,” by Mark Beech of Sports Illustrated
• YouTube: final drive against Virginia Tech
• Q&A with Matt Ryan in the September 21, 2007, New York Times

What does continued American action—reconstruction or withdrawal—mean for our moral responsibility to a country that we invaded and to which we introduced radical change?” This question was posed to a panel composed of a historian, a philosopher, and an ethicist in a program sponsored by the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life on March 18 in Cushing 101. Moderated by professor of political science Alan Wolfe (from left), the other speakers were Rev. J. Bryan Hehir, the Parker Gilbert Montgomery Professor of the Practice of Religion and Public Life at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and also the Archdiocese of Boston’s secretary for social services; Andrew Bacevich, professor of history and international relations at Boston University; and the philosophy department’s Paul McNellis, SJ, who was an infantry officer and journalist in Vietnam as the war there was ending in the 1970s.

What do Albert Camus’s The Fall, David McCullough’s Truman, and The First Jesuits, by John O’Malley, SJ, have in common? All are on the 2007-08 “Dean’s List,” a group of 27 “recommendations for an evening of good reading,” compiled by William Neenan, SJ, vice president and special assistant to the president. Fr. Neenan, who taught economics at the University of Michigan before coming to Boston College in 1980, serving as the first Gasson Professor, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and then as academic vice president and dean of faculties before assuming his current role in 1998, started issuing the list in 1983. To celebrate its quarter-century milestone, the O’Neill Library has created an exhibit, on display until June. “The Dean’s List is eagerly anticipated by the entire University community every year,” says the exhibit’s program, which notes that the fame of Neenan’s picks extends beyond the University community: “There have been articles about Fr. Neenan and his literary leanings in the Boston Globe, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and the National Catholic Register.” Above, in the library’s Connors Family Learning Center at a February 27 reception celebrating the exhibit, are (l-r) O’Neill Library preservation manager Stephen Dalton, vice president Mary Lou De Long, and Fr. Neenan.

More than 500 students, families, and friends packed St. Ignatius Church on the afternoon of February 29 to attend “Sending Forth” Mass. Held for undergraduates departing for Appalachia Volunteers community service trips during spring break, the gathering was characterized as a “commissioning Mass” by Donald MacMillan, SJ, who presided. “We pray that they travel well, that they learn and teach, and that they have the experience of serving others.”

Following Mass, some 600 undergraduates embarked to 36 sites in seven states, from Pennsylvania to Louisiana, to construct and renovate homes, run soup kitchens, repair public facilities, and provide other services to needy communities. A 13-student leadership council selected the sites, in partnership with such organizations as Habitat for Humanity, the Southeast Community Assistance Project, and individual parishes and community groups, according to Tamara Liddell of Campus Ministry, which has sponsored student service missions to Appalachia for 30 years. She said that participating students commit not only spring break, but time throughout the year for training, organizing trips, and fundraising, which, along with grants from individual donors and institutions, generated the $289,000 necessary to support all of this year’s program expenses.

Think Pink” was the theme of Breast Cancer Awareness Night in Conte Forum on February 18, when the women’s basketball team took the floor against Georgia Tech. In recent years the pink ribbon has become a sign of support for victims of breast cancer, the most common and deadly cancer among women worldwide. The “Think Pink” initiative is a global program, begun in 2007 by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, “to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond.” More than 900 schools in the U.S. are participating this year. The University’s athletic department sent invitations to attend the Georgia Tech game, along with information about the fight against breast cancer, to area high schools and middle schools. Pink pom-poms were distributed at the door, and the team wore pink warm-up suits before the game. Fans who came wearing pink were admitted free. Some 4,200 turned out—this year’s record attendance for women’s basketball—to take part in the event and watch the Eagles defeat Georgia Tech by a score of 62-53.

Some 400 people attended the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Committee Awards Banquet in Lyons Dining Hall on February 12 at which Eric Asuo-Mante ’09 (above, center) received this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Award. Congratulating him are his sister Harriet (left), professor Susan Michalczyk of the Arts and Sciences Honors Program (in flowered dress), and Anne Adorsi ’09 (far right). Conferred annually since 1982, the award provides 75 percent of senior year tuition, and is presented to a junior “who reflects King’s philosophy in his or her life and work.” Born and raised in Ghana, Asua-Mante majors in sociology with a pre-med concentration. He is on the executive boards of the AHANA Collective Theater, Dance Marathon, and the African Student Organization. “Eric is a dynamic, passionate young man,” said Michalczyk, who sponsored Asuo-Mante for the award. “He really exemplifies all that the MLK scholarship symbolizes.” The guest speaker at the dinner was Andrea J. Cabral ’81, sheriff of Suffolk County.

Shadowbox is a cross-browser, cross-platform, cleanly-coded and fully-documented media viewer application written entirely in JavaScript. Using Shadowbox, website authors can display pictures and movies in all major browsers without navigating away from the linking page. The default distribution of Shadowbox includes the full source code and a sample gallery (this file) that demonstrates how it is to be used.

@BC Portfolio:
Mixed Content Displayed via shadowBox©

Mixed Content Displayed via shadowBox©

Image

HTML

Last summer, Creating Harmony: the Displaced Persons’ Orchestra at St. Ottilien, by veteran filmmaker and professor of fine arts John Michalczyk, premiered at the New York Museum of Jewish Heritage. The film is Michalczyk’s sequel to Displaced: Miracle at St. Ottilien, released in 2002. Both films portray events that took place in World War II’s aftermath at a Benedictine monastery, in Bavaria, that was used by the Allies as a hospital for concentration camp survivors—events of which Michalczyk became aware through army veteran Robert Hilliard.

Some eight years ago, by “sheer coincidence,” according to Michalczyk, he met Hilliard through a mutual colleague, and invited the World War II veteran, who had been stationed in postwar Germany, to speak to his “Holocaust and the Arts” class. Hilliard is author of Surviving the Americans (Seven Stories Press, 1996), which Library Journal called “an important corrective to the popular perception that beneficent liberators attended to the needs of Holocaust victims from the moment of their liberation.”

The veteran was, in Michalczyk’s words, “an incredible speaker,” and he had a story to tell: As a 19-year old army private, Hilliard teamed up with fellow GI Edward Herman in a letter-writing campaign to raise awareness of the deplorable conditions at St. Ottilien. The impassioned letter accused the allied occupiers of “continued genocide,” declaring that by failing to provide the minimal sanitary, medical, and nutritional needs of St. Ottilien’s patients, Americans were unwitting accomplices in “carrying out Hitler’s plan of destructarchives/03november/displaced.htm” target=”_blank”>ion of the Jews.” The young GIs’ letter came to the attention of President Harry S. Truman, who ordered the army to provide more resources to the camp, as reported on the front page of the September 30, 1945, New York Times. Michalczyk’s 2002 Displaced: Miracle at St. Ottilien tells this story. It was screened at numerous festivals and broadcast on Boston’s public television station WGBH.

Serendipity continued to lead Michalczyk to new material. With the help of Edward Herman he obtained photos, audio recordings, and other materials from Sonia Beker, daughter of violinist Max Beker and his wife, pianist Fania Durmashkin-Beker, accomplished musicians from Vilna who were among the Holocaust survivors at St. Ottilien. The Bekers organized a concert of musicians who had survived Nazi internment at St. Ottilien on May 27, 1945, which Hilliard attended and described as “a liberation concert at which most of the liberated people were too weak to stand.” The St. Ottilien musicians then traveled throughout Bavaria, performing in their concentration camp clothing for audiences at displaced persons camps. They attracted international attention and were invited to play for David Ben Gurion, soon to be Israel’s first prime minister, and the Nuremburg Tribunal. Leonard Bernstein came to conduct them. Sonia Beker became a consultant to Michalczyk for his latest film, which tells the orchestra’s story, and published her own account of her parents’ lives, Symphony on Fire: A Story of Music and Spiritual Resistance During the Holocaust (Wordsmithy, 2007), in conjunction with the release of the new documentary.

@BC presents an excerpt from Creating Harmony, which contains a reenactment of St. Ottilien musicians in performance. “I want viewers to understand the beauty of the music that uplifted survivors’ spirits after the tragedy of the Holocaust,” said Michalczyk. Creating such footage was among the most challenging aspects of crafting the film, he says, because it required extensive research and expense to stage the event with verisimilitude. He had the assistance of Hilliard’s son Mark, who has produced reenactments of historical events for A&E and the History Channel. The concentration camp clothing the musicians wear in the film was obtained from the Virginia Holocaust Museum. In the excerpt, “V’lirushalyaim” (To Jerusalem), by Vilem Zrzavy, is performed by members of the Terezin Chamber Music Ensemble and the Hawthorne String Quartet, the University’s resident string quartet. The Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline will screen the hour-long film in its entirety on May 1.

Earlier this year the Burns Library placed on exhibit materials from an extensive Bostoniana collection donated by Ellerton J. Brehaut (1897-1985). Publicly displayed for the first time were rare manuscripts, including notes on Boston life and politics by Edward H. Savage, the city’s police chief from 1870-78. The exhibit also included letters signed by John Phillips, Josiah Quincy, and Harrison Gray Otis, the first three mayors of Boston. Older selections included a 1790 Massachusetts lottery ticket—most states used lotteries to finance public works at that time.

Brehaut (pronounced Bree-oh) worked 40 years for the Boston Chamber of Commerce, and was an indefatigable collector of newspapers, magazine articles, books, pamphlets, city documents, maps, guidebooks, and manuscripts. He donated parts of his collection to the public library in his hometown of Danvers, including “the most complete collection of printed materials relating to the 1692 witchcraft hysteria in Salem,” according to the University of Virginia’s Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project. “Some of his collection ended up at Boston College,” according to the Burns exhibit announcement, “because he had taken note of a request for donations of material on Boston put in a Boston newspaper by Boston college librarian Father Brendan Connolly, SJ.”

@BC presents a slideshow of images from the Brehaut collection: photographs and illustrations of the Great Boston Fire, which broke out on November 9, 1872, at the corner of Summer and Kingston Streets and in the course of 15 hours gutted 65 acres of the city’s central and commercial district, destroying property valued at $75 million. The University’s Thomas H. O’Connor wrote in Boston A-Z (Harvard University Press, 2000), “Some 776 buildings had to be demolished, and insurance companies went bankrupt paying claims. Most of the downtown area had to be completely rebuilt and modernized.”

k

Total time: 4:00

Forty-four students on February 1 presented their research findings at the University’s second annual Undergraduate Research Symposium in Gasson Hall. Donald Hafner, vice provost for undergraduate studies, selected the participants from recipients of advanced study grants, contributors to the undergraduate scholarly journals Elements and Ethos, and faculty recommendations. Strolling through the Gasson rotunda on the day of the event, where several poster presentations were on display, Hafner said, “This is really just fabulous for Boston College and a real affirmation of the kind of students we have, and also of the terrific faculty mentoring they get.”

@BC presents an audio recording of four undergraduate researchers—Caroline Beimford ’10, Jennifer Engel ’09, Tyson Jang ’09, and Shahan Mamoor ’09—talking about their work.