Anne Skorecki Levy: Difference between revisions
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{{Short description|Polish–American educator and activist}} |
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| ⚫ | '''Anne Skorecki Levy''' (born 1935) is an American educator and activist. A child Holocaust survivor, she is best known for her protest efforts against Louisiana State Representative, [[David Duke]] |
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| name = Anne Skorecki Levy |
| name = Anne Skorecki Levy |
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| birth_date = July 1935 |
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| birth_place = [[Łódź]], Poland |
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| birth_place = [[Lodz]], Poland |
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| residence = [[New Orleans, Louisiana]] |
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| occupation = Teacher, activist |
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| ⚫ | '''Anne Skorecki Levy''' (born July 1935) is an American educator and activist. A child Holocaust survivor, she is best known for her protest efforts against Louisiana State Representative, [[David Duke]], about his [[Holocaust denial]]. Levy used her own Holocaust experiences to confront Duke in his runs for senate and governor. These confrontations inspired the political strategy used by the [[Stop Duke Movement]] and the Louisiana Coalition Against Racism and Nazism in Duke's run for Governor against [[Edwin Edwards]] in 1991, which was to expose Duke's Nazi and white supremacist leanings.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Fearing duke, voters in Louisiana hand democrat fourth term.|last=Peter|first=Applebome|date=18 November 1991|work=The [[New York Times]]}}</ref> Biographer Lawrence Powell notes, "Anne Levy shows how one person can become the moral compass for a movement."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://njwdev.wp.tulane.edu/social-justice/anne-skorecki-levy/|title=Anne Skorecki Levy|last=Powell|first=Lawerence|website=NOLAJEWISHWOMEN|access-date=12 June 2019}}</ref> Levy continues her work to this day as an educator for the Southern Institute for Education and Research and the [[The National WWII Museum|National World War II Museum]] in New Orleans.<ref>{{Cite news|title=From Warsaw to New Orleans, two sisters retell surviving the Holocaust: Our Times.|last=Karst|first=James|date=7 June 2015|work=The Times Picayune}}</ref> |
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== Early life == |
== Early life == |
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Anne was born in July 1935 to Mark Skorecki and Ruth Tempelhof in |
Anne was born in July 1935 to Mark Skorecki and Ruth Tempelhof in [[Łódź]], Poland, the oldest of three children, including Lila, and a brother, Adam, born after the War.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.teachingtheholocaust.com/2018/03/10/anne-levy-and-lila-millen/|title=Anne Levy and Lila Millen|website=Teaching the Holocaust}}</ref> On September 7, 1939, the Germans occupied Poland. Like many men of military age, her father fled to the east, believing that Nazi invaders would not mistreat women and children. But in March 1940, Ruth and her daughters were forced into the [[Łódź Ghetto]]. A few months later, with Mark's long-distance help, they escaped, only to land in the [[Warsaw Ghetto]]. By now Mark had reunited with his family, finding work as a shop forman in one of the ghetto's largest slave factories. (Miraculously, the entire family survived intact despite the ruthless emptying of the Warsaw Ghetto in the summer of 1942.) |
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Using papers that identified them as Catholic, Ruth and her daughters escaped to the so-called Aryan side, where Mark joined them shortly before the [[Warsaw Ghetto Uprising|Warsaw Ghetto]] exploded in rebellion. Initially hidden by the Piotrowskas, a Catholic mother and her daughter, the Skoreckys changed their hiding place when an antisemitic neighbor threatened them with exposure. The rest of the war they spent sheltering in the lumber yard attached to the plant in which Mark had been working under a false identity. After liberation, the family fled Russian-occupied Poland for the [[Allied-occupied Germany|American Zone of Occupation]] in eastern Bavaria.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/48884932|title=Troubled memory : Anne Levy, the Holocaust, and David Duke's Louisiana|last=Powell|first=Lawrence N.|date=2002|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|isbn=0807853747|location=Chapel Hill, N.C.|pages=53, 59|oclc=48884932}}</ref> |
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Levy and her family arrived in New Orleans in 1949 where they permanently settled with the help of the [[National Council of Jewish Women]] as part of the Port and Dock Program, a citywide interdenominational resettlement project.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://nolajewishwomen.tulane.edu/social-justice/sarahstone|title=Port and Dock Program|last=Stone|first=Sarah|website=nolajewishwomen}}</ref> |
Levy and her family arrived in New Orleans in 1949 where they permanently settled with the help of the [[National Council of Jewish Women]] as part of the Port and Dock Program, a citywide interdenominational resettlement project.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://nolajewishwomen.tulane.edu/social-justice/sarahstone|title=Port and Dock Program|last=Stone|first=Sarah|website=nolajewishwomen}}</ref> |
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== Confronting David Duke == |
== Confronting David Duke == |
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In June 1989, Levy confronted newly elected Louisiana House Representative David Duke at the opening of a Holocaust exhibition in the rotunda of the Louisiana State Capitol. Because the opening was also a press event, her confrontation was caught on camera and replayed on television.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/48884932|title=Troubled memory : Anne Levy, the Holocaust, and David Duke's Louisiana|last=Powell, Lawrence N.|date=2002|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|isbn=0807853747|location=Chapel Hill, N.C.|oclc=48884932}}</ref> [[ |
In June 1989, Levy confronted newly elected Louisiana House Representative David Duke at the opening of a Holocaust exhibition in the rotunda of the Louisiana State Capitol. Because the opening was also a press event, her confrontation was caught on camera and replayed on television.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/48884932|title=Troubled memory : Anne Levy, the Holocaust, and David Duke's Louisiana|last=Powell, Lawrence N.|date=2002|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|isbn=0807853747|location=Chapel Hill, N.C.|oclc=48884932}}</ref><ref name="slowburn_s04e03">{{cite podcast|url=https://slate.com/podcasts/slow-burn/s4/david-duke/e3/david-duke-beth-rickey-anne-levy|title=The Nazi and the Republicans|author=Josh Levine|publisher=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]|date=June 10, 2020|series=Season 4 Episode 3|work=[[Slow Burn (podcast)|Slow Burn]]}}</ref> |
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[[Elizabeth Rickey]], a member of the Republican State Central Committee from New Orleans, credited Anne Levy as her inspiration in holding a press conference showing the Neo-Nazi books that she had purchased from Duke's Metairie legislative office. Rickey said, "I started dragging my feet… and I was a little afraid of Duke as well, but then I thought if Anne Levy has got the guts to walk up to that man and ask him why he said the Holocaust never happened, I certainly could summon the courage to expose his Nazi book-selling operation… I want to back her up.” <ref>{{Cite news|url=http://NewsBank,infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/news/0FADA132701835F8?p=AWNB|title="NEO-NAZI BOOKS, VIDEOS SOLD AT DUKE'S LEGISLATIVE OFFICE."|last=Bridges|first=Tyler|date=8 June 1989|work=The Times Picayune|access-date=11 September 2018}}</ref> Levy used her story to continuously confront Duke in his run for senate against [[J. Bennett Johnston]] in 1990 and again when Duke ran for [[governor of Louisiana|governor]] against [[Edwin Edwards]] in 1991.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/48884932|title=Troubled memory : Anne Levy, the Holocaust, and David Duke's Louisiana|last=Powell|first=Lawrence N.|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|year=2002|isbn=0807853747|location=Chapel Hill, N.C.|pages=18|oclc=48884932}}</ref> |
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==References== |
==References== |
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[[Category:21st-century American educators]] |
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[[Category:20th-century American educators]] |
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[[Category:Polish emigrants to the United States]] |
[[Category:Polish emigrants to the United States]] |
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[[Category:Warsaw Ghetto inmates]] |
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[[Category:21st-century American women educators]] |
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Latest revision as of 07:11, 12 January 2024
Anne Skorecki Levy | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 1935 Łódź, Poland |
| Occupation(s) | Teacher, activist |
Anne Skorecki Levy (born July 1935) is an American educator and activist. A child Holocaust survivor, she is best known for her protest efforts against Louisiana State Representative, David Duke, about his Holocaust denial. Levy used her own Holocaust experiences to confront Duke in his runs for senate and governor. These confrontations inspired the political strategy used by the Stop Duke Movement and the Louisiana Coalition Against Racism and Nazism in Duke's run for Governor against Edwin Edwards in 1991, which was to expose Duke's Nazi and white supremacist leanings.[1] Biographer Lawrence Powell notes, "Anne Levy shows how one person can become the moral compass for a movement."[2] Levy continues her work to this day as an educator for the Southern Institute for Education and Research and the National World War II Museum in New Orleans.[3]
Early life
[edit]Anne was born in July 1935 to Mark Skorecki and Ruth Tempelhof in Łódź, Poland, the oldest of three children, including Lila, and a brother, Adam, born after the War.[4] On September 7, 1939, the Germans occupied Poland. Like many men of military age, her father fled to the east, believing that Nazi invaders would not mistreat women and children. But in March 1940, Ruth and her daughters were forced into the Łódź Ghetto. A few months later, with Mark's long-distance help, they escaped, only to land in the Warsaw Ghetto. By now Mark had reunited with his family, finding work as a shop forman in one of the ghetto's largest slave factories. (Miraculously, the entire family survived intact despite the ruthless emptying of the Warsaw Ghetto in the summer of 1942.)
Using papers that identified them as Catholic, Ruth and her daughters escaped to the so-called Aryan side, where Mark joined them shortly before the Warsaw Ghetto exploded in rebellion. Initially hidden by the Piotrowskas, a Catholic mother and her daughter, the Skoreckys changed their hiding place when an antisemitic neighbor threatened them with exposure. The rest of the war they spent sheltering in the lumber yard attached to the plant in which Mark had been working under a false identity. After liberation, the family fled Russian-occupied Poland for the American Zone of Occupation in eastern Bavaria.[5]
Levy and her family arrived in New Orleans in 1949 where they permanently settled with the help of the National Council of Jewish Women as part of the Port and Dock Program, a citywide interdenominational resettlement project.[6]
Confronting David Duke
[edit]In June 1989, Levy confronted newly elected Louisiana House Representative David Duke at the opening of a Holocaust exhibition in the rotunda of the Louisiana State Capitol. Because the opening was also a press event, her confrontation was caught on camera and replayed on television.[7][8]
Elizabeth Rickey, a member of the Republican State Central Committee from New Orleans, credited Anne Levy as her inspiration in holding a press conference showing the Neo-Nazi books that she had purchased from Duke's Metairie legislative office. Rickey said, "I started dragging my feet… and I was a little afraid of Duke as well, but then I thought if Anne Levy has got the guts to walk up to that man and ask him why he said the Holocaust never happened, I certainly could summon the courage to expose his Nazi book-selling operation… I want to back her up.” [9] Levy used her story to continuously confront Duke in his run for senate against J. Bennett Johnston in 1990 and again when Duke ran for governor against Edwin Edwards in 1991.[10]
References
[edit]- ^ Peter, Applebome (18 November 1991). "Fearing duke, voters in Louisiana hand democrat fourth term". The New York Times.
- ^ Powell, Lawerence. "Anne Skorecki Levy". NOLAJEWISHWOMEN. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
- ^ Karst, James (7 June 2015). "From Warsaw to New Orleans, two sisters retell surviving the Holocaust: Our Times". The Times Picayune.
- ^ "Anne Levy and Lila Millen". Teaching the Holocaust.
- ^ Powell, Lawrence N. (2002). Troubled memory : Anne Levy, the Holocaust, and David Duke's Louisiana. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press. pp. 53, 59. ISBN 0807853747. OCLC 48884932.
- ^ Stone, Sarah. "Port and Dock Program". nolajewishwomen.
- ^ Powell, Lawrence N. (2002). Troubled memory : Anne Levy, the Holocaust, and David Duke's Louisiana. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0807853747. OCLC 48884932.
- ^ Josh Levine (June 10, 2020). "The Nazi and the Republicans". Slow Burn (Podcast). Season 4 Episode 3. Slate.
- ^ Bridges, Tyler (8 June 1989). ""NEO-NAZI BOOKS, VIDEOS SOLD AT DUKE'S LEGISLATIVE OFFICE."". The Times Picayune. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
- ^ Powell, Lawrence N. (2002). Troubled memory : Anne Levy, the Holocaust, and David Duke's Louisiana. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press. p. 18. ISBN 0807853747. OCLC 48884932.