Rosenstein Series Draws Hundreds; ALBA Presents at Conferences
FRANCE. Paris. American David “Chim” SEYMOUR near the Magnum office at the time (Faubourg St. Honore). 1956.
As this issue goes to press, the ALBA office is busy finalizing the event calendar for January, February and March, which will include online workshops and film screenings as part of the ongoing Perry Rosenstein Cultural Series. To stay informed, keep an eye out for our email newsletters (sign up through info@alba-valb.org), connect with us through social media (Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram), or check ALBA’s events calendar.
As part of the Rosenstein Series, on November 16 ALBA Chair Sebastiaan Faber held an online conversation with Carole Naggar, whose biography of the Polish-American photographer David “Chim” Seymour appeared earlier this year. The conversation focused on Chim’s work in the Spanish Civil War, World War II, and the postwar years, as well as the way his work reflects a deep commitment to humanism. (A recording of the event is available here.)
On October 20, a panel of ALBA scholars treated an online audience of 250 to a fascinating conversation about the connections between the Spanish Civil War and the Holocaust, including the role of Spanish and IB veterans in the anti-Nazi resistance, their deportation to Nazi camps such as Mauthausen, and Franco’s close relations with the Axis powers. After presentations by ALBA board members Gina Herrmann and Robert Coale, as well as scholars Sara Brenneis and Joshua Goode (our book review editor), a lively Q&A with the audience followed. (The entire event is available for view on ALBA’s YouTube channel.)
On September 18, ALBA and the Catalan government hosted a joint information session about the Alvah Bessie Program, through which Catalan authorities seek to locate, exhume and—if desired—repatriate the remains of International Brigade volunteers who died in Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War. Based on the event, which was attended by close to 200 people, Jordi Martí and Eulàlia Mesalles Godoy of the Directorate for Democratic Memory have compiled a FAQ document that is available here.
On November 2, ALBA Board Member Nancy Wallach and Executive Assistant Dennis Meaney gave a presentation about ALBA’s teaching workshops and Watt Essay Contest at “Antifascism in the 21st Century,” a two-day conference organized by Fraser Ottanelli and Mary Anne Trasciatti at Hofstra University in Long Island. In early September, Meaney also attended the Socialism 2022 Conference in Chicago on ALBA’s behalf. On September 14, Wallach presented at a Symposium on the Visionary Art of Ralph Fasanella at Michigan State University.
