Escape: Europe and the Middle East, 1918-1948
Lunch, Then Learn | Registration opens 10/13/2025 9:00 AM EDT
In 1938, decisive action meant life or death for Austria’s Jews. The story of my father’s narrow escape from Nazi-occupied Austria, and his leadership in a transport of Jewish youth to British Mandate Palestine, forms a narrative thread against the fabric of the interwoven forces of authoritarianism, nationalism, antisemitism, waning empires, changing borders, human migrations and war that were part of the seismic geopolitical changes in Europe and the Middle East between 1918 and 1948. Historical and personal documents and photographs will present an overview of these forces and the ways they shaped, and were shaped by, individual lives.
Eve Gendron
Eve Gendron was a practicing architect for two decades and an occasional sculptor and illustrator, now moving into storytelling for page and screen. Her father, David Jordan, was actively involved with Jewish youth in Vienna, Austria, served in the British Army in Palestine, and worked as a journalist and diplomatic attache in Tel Aviv and Paris before immigrating to the United States. In addition to Eve's independent historical research on the topic, this class is based upon her father’s private poetry and writings, his novel, Vienna Farewell, his Shoah Foundation testimony, and many conversations over the years.