The Bernard Wexler Lecture on Jewish History

Charles King
Odessa: Genius and Death in a City of Dreams

Wednesday, October 26 | 7:30 pm | Free
 

The port city of Odessa has been a gathering place of geniuses, villains, aristocrats, artists and political insurgents of every nationality, religion and social class. King traces the history and myths that have made the city one of the world’s most important multicultural centers for nearly three centuries, unfolding a mesmerizing tale that dramatizes the conflict between cosmopolitanism and nationalism, acceptance and ethnic zeal.

Charles King lives in Washington, DC, where he is a professor of international affairs and government at Georgetown University. He is the author of four books on Eastern Europe and is a frequent commentator on events in the region for television, radio and the press.

“A superb and dreadfully moving account of the glory and subsequent murder by the Romanians of the Jewish city in Odessa. . . . Odessa is both celebration and lament and equally impressive as both.”
-Harold Bloom

The Bernard Wexler Fund for Jewish History, established in 1996, supports an annual lecture that brings outstanding speakers, scholarly research and contemporary issues to the forefront of learning at the 16th Street J.

Partner: 16th Street J’s Leo and Anna Smilow Center for Jewish Living and Learning

See the entire Festival line-up