But the best was an unexpected encounter at Oregon State University Library in Corvallis, where I was  invited to tour the replica of Linus Pauling’s lab, complete with memorabilia that included his two Nobel Prizes, his microscope, and his blackboard covered with doodles and formulas and names.

I saw his lab coat and just could not resist tucking Flat Stanley right in the pocket.

Thanks, Jon Katz and the team at the Linus Pauling Collection!

We also went to Charleston, SC where I saw a splendid production of Arlene Hutton’s Letters to Sala, directed by Eric Nightengale.  I have gotten over the weirdly modernist experience of being a character in a play, and was happy to meet the beautiful 19 year old who did a terrific job.

If you have an unaccountable urge to see the whole thing, it’s here:  Flat Stanley

Sala’s Gift:  A Whole War in a Tin Box

Went looking for an image of the original box, which of course was cardboard not tin…and was reminded of our beautiful NYPL exhibition.  This case, which on July 4 houses an original copy of the Declaration of Independence, held the Spill and Box box, as well as the original small leather portfolio in which the letters slumbered for so long.

I had a wonderful three days of meetings and interviews through the efforts of Mlada Fronta, my Czech publisher.  I loved working with Tony Koci and Magdalena Potměšilová.

We will all have our fifteen minutes of fame, or so saith Andy Warhol; I just didn’t know that mine would be in Czech.  I did the equivalent of the Today Show, then another longer interview on a show that will air this Sunday. Never did like doing live tv, especially through an interpreter.  Not a comfortable situation, to be spoken to in a language where you can’t grasp a single word, and then hear the translation and respond.  I just watched the interview and see on my face the very essence of farkrumpt punim. You too can laugh at me here:

All of this began when Eva Rennerova googled Zacler and came up with my book.  As the director of the Zacler Museum, she was intrigued, and her interest led to an exhibition that was based on our NYPL exhibit but enhanced with local material.

That sparked the interest of Karin Venhauer, a young documentary filmmaker, who decided that she would do a film about Sala.  With remarkable tenacity, Karin led a small crew to Monsey, New York, to interview Sala and me.  She also won THINK BIG, a major Czech competition for creative projects, which underwrote the translation and publication of Sala’s Gift in Czech, now SALIN DAR, translated beautifully by Petra Efflorova.

All of this came together last week.  The book was officially launched at the Polish Institute in Prague.

Many thanks to Judita Matyášová for her article in Lidove Noviny 6 March 2012.

On Wednesday, I spent the entire day in Trutnov and Zacler.   Gave a talk to 350 teenagers, simultaneously translated by Petra, and thinking how odd it was to be talking to the grandchildren of the men and women who lived in Zacler during the war. They sang happy birthday to Sala, who turned  88 on Monday, March 5.

Later, standing by the field where the Zacler labor camp barracks once stood, the place where my mother was liberated on May 8, 1945, I was overcome with a complicated set of emotions.  Among the strongest was a sense of profound unworthiness.  I was there in my mother’s place, to talk and write about these times with sincere motivation — despite the fact that I am so far from the reality.  All of us are.  Only the survivors can speak with authority.  Their memories are faulty but still far more authentic than what we create.  And yet soon we will be the best the world can do.

Here is the Czech trailer for the book, created by Karin Venhauer:

What? You don’t speak Czech? here’s the English version on YouTube:

Jill Vexler and I will be speaking on November 17@6p.

Suffolk Center on the Holocaust, Diversity, and Human Understanding
Suffolk County Community Center
533 College Road
Selden, New York 11784

Letters to Sala Holocaust Exhibit: MyFoxMEMPHIS.com

AT TEMPLE ISRAEL MUSEUM, Memphis TN.

Museum of Jewish Heritage

36 Battery Place, New York

“Memoirs About Our Mothers”

Yom Hashoah Commemoration

Young Israel of Staten Island,

835 Forest Hill Road, Staten Island

Tony Kushne

Letters to Sala by Arlene Hutton will open at Rollins College on February 11, 2011…and Tony Kushner will be there a few months later.  OK, so we’re not exactly on the same page, but we’re close!  Either way, I’d love to see you in  Winter Park Florida.

I will be there as Scholar in Residence (thanks, Rollins!) and giving a couple of talks and attending the performances.  Playwright Arlene Hutton (the Nibroc trilogy) and director Eric Nightengale — a mighty pair — will be there too.

The play is  sort of based on my book, Sala’s Gift.

Sort of, because Letters to Sala was first conceptualized by the distinguished director Larry Sacharow, before my book was even published.  Larry introduced me to Arlene Hutton, and the first expression of their collaboration was performed at the opening of the Sala Garncarz Kirschner Collection at the New York Public Library. Marion Seldes, Wendy Vanden Heuvel, and Nina Sacharow were the first actors.  Sadly, we lost our friend Larry soon afterwards, much much too young.

The first production was at Suz Classen’s wonderful Invisible Theatre in Tucson, and since then, it has been performed in about a dozen different places…Rollins College will be very special, because it is Arlene Hutton’s alma mater, because she and Eric will be introducing some wonderful new ideas for this production, and because my parents, Sala and Sidney Kirschner, will be joining us on February 14 for the matinee performance.

It occurs to me that I should take Tony Kushner’s picture off this post.  Nah, he looks so appealing!  I’ll have to post some others of the play and its actors.

Winter Park, Florida:  a nice place to be in February!

Especially when you can catch a great production of Arlene Hutton’s LETTERS TO SALA directed by Eric Nightengale.

Special guest:  SALA!

If you find yourself anywhere near the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, drop in please at James Madison University

I’ll be Visiting Scholar there on November 8 and November 9, giving a talk on Resistance and Heroism:  Mapping the Holocaust Story on November 8, and also visiting with a few literature and history classes.

Jill Vexler’s beautiful exhibit, which originated at the New York Public Library, will also be opening that week.  And I’ll be attending the first performance of Arlene Hutton’s play, Letters to Sala, on November 9, and doing a talkback afterwards with Arlene.

Once again, I will have that weird sensation of watching a play in which I am a character.  But with Arlene’s beautiful and skillful playwriting, and Roger Hall’s direction, I’m sure “Other Ann” is in good hands.

On November 11, I’ll be speaking a lot closer to home:  CUNY’s New York City College of Technology in Brooklyn.

City Tech is marking the anniversary of Kristallnacht and the 65th anniversary of the end of WWII.

The event is at Thursday, November 11, 1 p.m., and I’ll be speaking in the College’s Atrium Amphitheater, 300 Jay Street (at Tillary), in Downtown Brooklyn.

It will be my honor to be there with Nobel Prize winner Günter Blobel, MD, PhD, and Interfaith Committee of Remembrance (ICOR) founder and chairman Jerry Jacobs, and with organizer James Goldman.

Tony Kushner

Coming soon to Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida — a great place to visit in February! — is Arlene Hutton’s Letters to Sala, based on my book, Sala’s Gift. Arlene (aka Beth Lincks), directed by Eric Nightengale.

I will be there as Scholar in Residence from February 11 to 14.  Here’s more info on getting tickets for the play, which opens on February 11.

Special guests SALA and SIDNEY will be there for the matinee on Sunday, February 13, weather and health permitting.

I’m not related to Tony Kushner, though I’d be mighty proud if I were.  We do have a connection (other than my admiration for his work), and that is through Larry Sacharow,  award-winning director of Edward Albee and head of the theatre program at Fordham….and a dear friend who died much much too young.

Larry was the first person to conceptualize a play based on my mother’s letters — my book hadn’t even been written yet.  The first reading of the play was done at the opening of the “Letters to Sala” exhibit at New York Public Library, and the three readers were Marion Seldes, Wendy Vanden Heuvel, and Larry’s daughter Nina.  Larry brought in playwright Arlene Hutton, aka Beth Lincks, to write the play, which has now had productions and readings in about ten different amazing places, beginning with Tucson’s wonderful Invisible Theatre, directed by Suz Classen.

Larry would have loved the strength and intelligence and humor that Arlene has brought to the play.