Michael Berenbaum | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 31, 1945 (1945-07-31) (age 80) Newark, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Florida State University Queens College |
| Employer | American Jewish University |
| Spouse | Melissa Patack Berenbaum |
| Children | 4 |
Michael Berenbaum (born July 31, 1945) is an American scholar, professor,rabbi, writer, and filmmaker, who specializes in the study ofthe Holocaust. He served as deputy director of the President's Commission on the Holocaust (1979–1980), Project Director of theUnited States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) (1988–1993), and Director of the USHMM's Holocaust Research Institute (1993–1997).
Berenbaum played a leading role in the creation of the USHMM and the content of its permanent exhibition. From 1997 to 1999, he served as president and CEO of the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, and subsequently (and currently) as Director of the Sigi Ziering Institute: Exploring the Ethical and Religious Implications of the Holocaust, located at theAmerican Jewish University (formerly known as the University of Judaism), in Los Angeles, California.[1]
Berenbaum, who is Jewish, was born inNewark, New Jersey. He graduated fromQueens College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1967 and received his doctorate fromFlorida State University in 1975. He also attendedThe Hebrew University, theJewish Theological Seminary andBoston University. Berenbaum received Rabbinic ordination (Orthodox) by Rabbi Yaakov Rabin at the age of 23. Berenbaum held teaching posts atFlorida State University,Yale University,Georgetown University,Wesleyan University,George Washington University, theUniversity of Maryland, College Park, andAmerican University, and is currently a Professor of Jewish Studies at theAmerican Jewish University (Los Angeles).
He is the author and editor of eighteen books, includingAfter Tragedy and Triumph, a study of the state of American Jewry in the early 1990s, as well asThe World Must Know: The History of the Holocaust, andAnatomy of the Auschwitz Death Camp. He co-editedAfter The Passion is Gone: American Religious Consequences, an examination of the social impact of the filmAfter the Passion is Gone, with Shawn Landres (2004).[2][3][4] Berenbaum andLandres took a public role in shaping the interreligious response to the film.[5][6][7][8]
Berenbaum was the Executive Editor of theNewEncyclopedia Judaica, 2nd ed., which includes 22 volumes, six million words, and 25,000 individual contributions to Jewish knowledge, published in December 2006 (ISBN 0028659287). It won theDartmouth Medal of the American Library Association for outstanding reference work of 2006.
Berenbaum co-producedOne Survivor Remembers: The Gerda Weissmann Klein Story,[9] a film which was recognized with anAcademy Award,[10] anEmmy Award, and theCable ACE Award. He was the chief historical consultant forLast Days, which also won anAcademy Award in 1998. In 2001, Berenbaum was historical consultant for theHistory Channel'sThe Holocaust: The Untold Story, which won theCINE Golden Eagle Award and a silver medal at the US International Film and Video Festival. He was also Executive Producer of a film entitledDesperate Hours about the unique and rarely acknowledged role The Republic of Turkey played in rescuing Jews from Nazi Germany's final solution and "About Face: The Story of The Jewish Refugee Soldiers of WWII." Berenbaum was executive producer ofSwimming in Auschwitz and was a consultant forDefiance andUprising, among other Holocaust-related films and documentaries.
Berenbaum is the founding partner of Berenbaum Jacobs Associates, a firm that designs museums, special exhibitions, memorials and educational centers.
In 2019 and 2020 he served as a history consultant for the Serbian historical drama filmDara of Jasenovac.[11]
Berenbaum's wife is Melissa Patack Berenbaum. Berenbaum is the father of four children: Rabbi Ilana Berenbaum Grinblat, Phillip Lev Berenbaum, Joshua Boaz Berenbaum, and Mira Leza Berenbaum.
He is the model for the character Monty Pincus inTova Reich’s 2007 satirical novelMy Holocaust.[12]
