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Where From and Where To - Elizabeth Petuchowski Author Event

One of the Last Self-Told German Jewish Life Stories

Elizabeth Petuchowski shares her story of growing up as a young Jewish girl in Germany amidst the rise of Nazism, fleeing to England where she experienced the WWII outbreak, and immigrating to the US.

Elizabeth Petuchowski grew up as a young Jewish girl in Germany amidst the rise of Nazism and mandatory antisemitism. She witnessed Hitler coming to power in the 1930s as a schoolgirl in Germany and experienced the outbreak of World War II in September 1939 from England where she and her immediate family had fled. Elizabeth resumed her studies and attended university in England during the WWII years before immigrating to America.

Elizabeth will share photographs from her life's journey, talk about her experience living through these historical events, reflect on the effects these universally known events had on her life, and read from her memoir, Where From and Where To: One of the Last Self-Told German Jewish Life Stories. Robin Judd, Associate Professor in The OSU Department of History with expertise in Jewish History and Immigration History, will facilitate the conversation. Masks are preferred at this program for in-person attendees.

Thanks to Gramercy Books for partnering with us on this special program and for making books available for sale at the event.

Author Bio:

Elizabeth Petuchowski was born in Germany and came to America via World War II England. She taught German language and literature in an adjunct capacity while a wife and mother. She published widely both in her field and feuilletons. She has authored a memoir, Where From and Where To: One of the Last Self-Told German Jewish Life Stories, as well as two German books and translated extensively from German into English.

Facilitator Bio:

Robin E. Judd is a specialist in Jewish, transnational, and gender history, with particular interests in Holocaust studies, the history of antisemitism, the history of religion, the history of leadership, and the history of migration. She is the author of Contested Rituals: Circumcision, Kosher Butchering, and German-Jewish Political Life in Germany, 1843-1933 and the forthcoming book, Love, Liberation, and Loss: Jewish Military Marriages and Community Building After the Holocaust.

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