“The Art of Inventing Hope: Intimate Conversations with Elie Wiesel,” offers an unprecedented, in-depth conversation between the world’s most revered Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel, and a son of survivors, Howard Reich. During the last four years of Elie Wiesel’s life, he met frequently with Howard Reich in New York, Chicago, and Florida – and spoke with him often on the phone – to discuss the subject that linked them: Reich’s father, Robert Reich, and Wiesel were both liberated from the Buchenwald death camp on April 11, 1945. What had started as an interview assignment from the Chicago Tribune quickly evolved into a friendship and a partnership. Reich and Wiesel believed their colloquy represented a unique exchange between two generations deeply affected by a cataclysmic event. Wiesel said to Reich, “I’ve never done anything like this before,” and after reading the final book, asked him not to change a word. The insights on life, ethics, and memory that Wiesel offers and Reich illuminates will not only help the children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors understand their painful inheritance, but will benefit everyone, young or old.
Howard Reich has written for the Chicago Tribune since 1978 and joined the staff in 1983. He is the author of five other books. He has won an Emmy Award and the Chicago Journalists Association named him Chicago Journalist of the Year in 2011.
There will be a book sale and signing immediately following the presentation.
Free & open to the public.
Generously Sponsored By:
Moshe & Debra Katz
Nancy Kennedy Barnett & Jim Barnett
In honor of Werner & Carol Richheimer
In memory of Bill & Franka Neufeld
Co-Sponsor:
Boswell Book Company
Harry & Rose Samson Family JCC
Date:
Sun. August 11, 2019
Time:
2:00 pm - 3:15 pm
Location:
Community Hall at Harry & Rose Samson Family JCC
6255 N. Santa Monica Blvd.