MOUNT VERNON — A symposium at Cornell College on Sunday, Nov. 4, will feature a panel of area residents who escaped the Holocaust, plus a lecture by a historian whose book details how Germans fleeing the Nazi regime found refuge at the Scattergood Friends School in West Branch.
“Christians, Jews, and the Holocaust in Cornell College’s Regional History and Future” features three sessions, at 1, 3:30 and 7 p.m., in Hedges Conference Room of The Commons. Admission is free to each session. The symposium inaugurates a stronger connection between Cornell’s religion department and area communities.
The first session, “Larger Retrospectives and Reminiscences,” presents Holocaust refugees who have settled in the area: Marianne Bern of Cedar Rapids, one of the Jewish children rescued by the Kindertransport and sent to England; Gusti Kollman of Iowa City, the widow of Eric Kollman, a distinguished Cornell history professor who taught from 1944 to 1973; and Alan DuVal of Mount Vernon, emeritus professor of German who witnessed the rallies at Nuremberg in the 1930s. Also participating will be a panel of academics and clergy who have taken an interest in Jewish-Christian relations, including issues related to the Holocaust: Bill Heywood, emeritus professor of history and college historian; Richard Thomas, emeritus professor of history and college chaplain; and Catherine Quehl-Engel, a Cornell graduate and current chaplain of the college.
In the second session, “A Special Link to Iowa’s Past,” author and historian Michael Luick-Thrams will explain how 185 refugees from Nazi Germany found a safe haven at the Quaker-run Scattergood Friends School in West Branch. His book is “Out of Hitler’s Reach: The Scattergood Hostel for European Refugees, 1939-43.” At that time, Cornell sent professors and students to visit the hostel, giving lectures and volunteering their time. Many of the refugees, who included members of the former German parliament, intellectuals and artists, spoke at Cornell. A couple of the German students at Scattergood eventually attended Cornell. Audiotaped memories from one, Ernst Solmitz (Somers), a 1945 Cornell graduate, will be played during the presentation. The college and the hostel also shared a double-booking of the Von Trapp Family Singers of “Sound of Music” fame, notes Luick-Thrams, a native Iowan now living in Berlin. Bob Berquist of West Branch, who attended Scattergood with the refugees, will share his memories after Luick-Thrams’ talk. Introducing Luick-Thrams will be University of Iowa philosophy professor Evan Fales, a former instructor at Scattergood and the son of Holocaust survivors.
The third session, “Hopes for the Future,” will highlight Cornell’s department of religion. The main address, “Christendom, Jewry, and the Nations: Understanding the Meaning of Chosenness,” will be delivered by department chair Charles Vernoff, a comparative philosopher of religion with expertise in Judaism and world religions. Responses will be provided by professor Joseph Molleur, who holds a doctorate in comparative theology and, in addition to expertise in Christianity, has a strong background in the religions of India, particularly Hinduism; and the Rev. Emory Gillespie of Mount Vernon First Presbyterian Church, who teaches a course in religion and literature at Cornell.
Dinner for those attending the symposium will be available at 5:30 p.m. in Harlan Dining Room. Cost is $5 per person; reservations are not required.