Oliver Pollak
Oliver B. Pollak is a freelance writer in Richmond. He may be contacted via oliver.pollak@sdjewishworld.com
A Jewish Academia Novel Set in 1960 Still Resonates
I started reading academia novels in the 1960s with Edward Albee’s tempestuous boozy Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf, then the jocular Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis, a hoot, a romp, filled with junior faculty insecurities.
My radar sought...
Escape by marriage: how some fled the Nazis
Persecuted. Engaged. Married. Marriages of convenience in exile by Sabine Bergler and Irene Messinger, Jewish Museum Vienna, 2018, 147 pages
We marry for love, romance, money, and to procreate and extend family lineages. Marriages of convenience...
Jewish Historians of England
Twenty Years On, Views and Reviews of Modern Britain by Peter Stansky; Pinehill Humanities Press, 2020.
Peter Stansky born in Manhattan, graduated from Yale, Harvard, and King’s College, Cambridge where he earned his doctorate studying...
Jewish Life in San Miguel de Allende
San Miguel sits at 6200 feet in Mexico’s high central altiplano 146 air miles northwest of Mexico City. Passenger train service ceased many years ago. Volaris Airlines very efficiently flies 240 passengers the 1,735...
‘Turn Every Page’ Film a Stunning, Intimate Learning Experience
The film title, “Turn Every Page,” is the vital maxim of the investigative journalist and historian.
At the beginning of COVID-19, in early 2020, I took the opportunity for some self-directed continuing education on writing...
Pandemic Postcard Messages, 1918-1920
A substantial portion of the following story appeared in “Messages by Regular Folk on 1918 Pandemic” online in Postcard History on August 22, 2021. That publication’s editor gave permission to reprint it in the cause “that...
Growth of Jewish Communities Promoted in the Early 20th Century
The headline in the adjoining news clipping is hype. “May” is not “will” or “shall.” Booster describes real estate developers, hucksters and visionaries who wanted to profit from growing communities and increases in real...
Historiography of ‘Atlantic Crossing’
A friend recommended the eight-part PBS Masterpiece series Atlantic Crossing written and directed by Norwegian film maker Alexander Eik.
The series favors our human attraction to the cult of monarchy, divine right power, and personal flamboyance that...
Scholars Detail Growth of American Jewish History
Conversations with Colleagues, On Becoming An American Jewish Historian, edited by Jeffrey S. Gurock (Brighton, MA: Academic Studies Press, 2018) 270 pages.
Conversations Between Colleagues has a personal, useful and informative festschrift flavor that honors the profession of American...
There are museums for so many interests
Fantasize. Plan an imaginary trip. Breakout mentally from pandemic limitations The world is awash with museums. It demonstrates the human need to remember and pass on artifacts of the heights and depths of civilization.
The Reader’s...