May 19, 1995 Contact: Barbara McKenna (408/459-2495)

GIFT FROM WORLD WAR II SURVIVOR ESTABLISHES CHAIR IN HOLOCAUST STUDIES AT UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA CRUZ

In addition to endowment, gift includes rich archive of family documents from the holocaust

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SANTA CRUZ, CA--On the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, many holocaust survivors share this hope: that the world not forget Hitler's program of genocide that killed 6 million Jews. "I believe it is critical to perpetually study the circumstances culminating in Hitler's final solution for the Jews," says Anne Neufeld Levin, whose gift to the University of California, Santa Cruz, has led to the establishment of an endowed chair in holocaust studies on the campus.

"Only by remembering can we immortalize the millions of victims and help to prevent a similar onslaught against any group," says Levin, who narrowly escaped Nazi persecution as a young child. At the age of three, she fled from Austria with her parents, Henry and Hedy Neufeld, just as Hitler's troops invaded Czechoslovakia. "A miracle separated my escaping alive from the eventual annihilation of my grandparents, aunts, and 6 million other Jews," Levin says.

One of just a handful of funded chairs in holocaust studies in the U.S., the establishment of the Neufeld-Levin Holocaust Chair was approved at today's (May 19, 1995) meeting of the Regents of the University of California. The chair is supported by a $250,000 endowment. Along with the endowment, Levin is donating an extensive family archive of holocaust-related materials.

In providing the endowment, Levin stipulated that the UCSC chair have an interdisciplinary focus and public-outreach element. "The holocaust touches many subjects; there are holocaust experts in medicine, science, literature, and theater," she said. "I am hoping that the creation of the chair is only a nucleus around which other activities will be possible."

"This extraordinary gift will make it possible for faculty, students, and the general public to learn from leading experts on and off campus about one of the most tragic and significant events of the twentieth century," says UC Santa Cruz Chancellor Karl S. Pister. "And by donating her treasured family archive to the university, Anne Levin gives us a very personal and poignant view of the holocaust."

"The interdisciplinary aspect of this chair is quite unique," says Murray Baumgarten, a professor of English and comparative literature at UCSC who co-teaches a course on campus about the holocaust. "There are a lot of holocaust courses taught under the heading of Jewish studies, but the problem with that is the holocaust is not just a Jewish problem. To keep it isolated in Jewish studies misses the point over and over again. The Bosnians, the Cambodians, the Rwandans, and many others understand that this is not a Jewish problem."

History professor Peter Kenez, who teaches the holocaust studies course with Baumgarten, notes that the class is in great demand. "It is obvious there is interest in this subject," Kenez observes, noting, "We had close to 300 students enroll the last time we offered the class. I expect we will see more and more universities beginning to offer this course of study."

Holocaust studies will be greatly enhanced by Levin's archive- -a collection of documents, medals, stamps, artifacts, photos, memorabilia, and letters, carefully preserved first by her parents and then by Levin. "Many people destroyed these things as soon as the war was over, but my father kept everything," she says.

Included in the archive is the letter Levin's father wrote to the American couple who took in her brother when he was sent ahead of the rest of the family. "My father wrote the letter thinking he would never see my brother again," she says. Also included are the identity papers, passports, and other correspondence that Levin's family carried following the Nazi occupation of Austria. "Many of them are marked with a big 'J' or have swastikas all over them," she says. Her father's stamp collection, also in the archive, includes nearly every stamp issued by the Third Reich. The archive will be housed in Special Collections at the University Library.

Levin has been a longtime supporter and volunteer at UCSC. Along with establishing the annual Neufeld-Levin Holocaust Lecture Series, she is a former president of the UCSC Foundation as well as a current board trustee. She served as co-chair of the Leadership Opportunity Awards Scholarship Committee and as a member of several other groups providing support to the university.

(This release is also available on UC NewsWire, the University of California's electronic news service. To access by modem, dial 1- 209-244-6971.)

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