Florence Mendheim was a Jewish librarian who went undercover in the 1930s to spy on Nazis around New York City. This program, co-presented by the Museum, the Leo Baeck Institute, and the Brooklyn Public Library will explore her fascinating life and legacy.
Mendheim went undercover at a moment in which American Nazism was flourishing. Local Nazi groups in the New York area were distributing propaganda, setting up summer camps, and hosting large rallies. Mendheim, an employee of the New York Public Library, was inspired to document and resist these groups. In the course of her undercover work, she used at least three pseudonyms: KQX (for correspondence with a Rabbi), Gertrude Mueller (for the Nazis), and Anna Hitler (for conducting genealogical research on Adolf Hitler).
The program will feature:
- Marshall Curry, an Academy Award-winning filmmaker who directed the short film “A Night at the Garden;”
- Dr. Daniel Greene, President and Librarian at the Newberry Library in Chicago, adjunct professor of history at Northwestern University, and curator of “Americans and the Holocaust;” and
- Michael Simonson, Head of Public Outreach and Archivist at the Leo Baeck Institute.
The discussion will be moderated by Treva Walsh, Collections Project Manager at the Museum of Jewish Heritage.
A $10 suggested donation enables us to present programs like this one. We thank you for your support.
We would like to express our appreciation to the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) for supporting this public program. Through recovering the assets of the victims of the Holocaust, the Claims Conference enables organizations around the world to provide education about the Shoah and to preserve the memory of those who perished.
Public programming at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust is made possible, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; a Humanities New York CARES Grant with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the federal CARES Act; and other generous donors.
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