Turning Point is a film and an exhibition that traveled around the world.
The Turning Point film is archived in Germany at the Museum of Wansee and in the United States at the Washington Holocaust Museum.
The film was broadcasted twice on national television in France.
Along with the film, an exhibition composed of pictures, texts and poems was created and displayed in different forums such as the European Parliament in Brussels (January 1997) and the State of the World Forum (September 1997).
1996
February 22: Lara and Claire Nuer meet Rachel Levin from Steven Spielberg’s Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation in Los Angeles to present the film and raise funds.
March 3–5: The film is presented at the 26th Annual Scholars’ Conference on the Holocaust and the Churches.
March 24 and 26: Public screenings of the film are held in Paris.
September: The film is broadcast twice on national television (Channel France 2) in “La Source de Vie” hosted by Josy Eisenberg.
October 2–6: Claire and Lara Nuer participate in the “State of the World Forum.” Claire is a speaker on the panel “Evil and Civilization” to talk about the Holocaust and about the Turning Point project, accompanied by Gottfried Wagner (the great-grandson of the composer).
October 7: Claire Nuer is invited to a screening of the Turning Point film, followed by a Q&A at Zieva Konvisser’s home near Detroit. Among the twenty guests were rabbis, university professors, and members of Zieva’s Chrysler management team.
November 15: Claire and Lara Nuer present the work of Au Coeur de la Communication (ACC) and theTurning Pointfilm to professor Abdul Aziz Said.
1997
January 27–30: Display of the Turning Point exhibition and screenings of the film at the European Parliament in Brussels.
March 1–4: Display of the Turning Point exhibition and screening of the film at the 27th Annual Scholars’ Conference on the Holocaust and the Churches in Tampa, Florida. Claire Nuer, Lara Nuer and Marc-André Olivier represent the project.
1998
March 1–3: Lara Nuer presents the Turning Point film at the 28th Annual Scholars’ Conference on the Holocaust and the Churches in Seattle, Washington. The conference is sponsored by the University of Washington on the theme “Holocaust and Genocide in the 2Ist Century.”
November 5–9: At the “State of the World Forum in San Francisco, Lara Nuer organizes and participates in a round table on “Business for the World, a Daily Challenge for Leaders and Organizations” with Claire Nuer, Peter Senge (author of the best seller The Fifth Discipline, founder of the Society for Organizational Learning, and professor at MIT), Iva Wilson (ex-president of Philips Display Components, president of Society for Organizational Learning) and George McCown (managing director at McCown DeLeeuw & Company). Shayne Hughes also presented the Turning Point exhibition.
2011
Fifteen years later, the influence of the Turning Point gatherings continues.
For example, during one of the walks through the camp, participants Zieva and Marc Konvisser from Michigan, had joined in with the group at the killing field in Auschwitz-Birkenau in chanting the Kaddish (Jewish prayer for the dead) to commemorate the memory of those who perished there. At the suggestion of facilitator Sam Cohen and the members of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam (a cooperative village experiment where Jews and Palestinian Israeli live together) they added a few words for world peace to the last two phrases of the Kaddish to include the world:
“Let there be abundant peace from Heaven, with life’s goodness for us and for all the people Israel–and for all the world. And let us say: Amen.”
“He who brings peace to His universe will bring peace to us and to all the people Israel–and to all the world. And let us say: Amen.”
Shortly after Zieva and Marc returned home, they shared this experience and offered the same suggestion to the members of their Conservative synagogue during the Yom Kippur Martyrology service commemorating those who perished in the ghettos and concentration camps. The entire Beth Shalom congregation rose and chanted this version of the special Martyrology Kaddish–and have continued this tradition.
In 2011, they changed mahzors from the traditional Harlow mahzor to the newly published Mahzor Lev Shalom. The new language [v’al kol yosh’vei teiveil] was included in the mourner’s kaddish throughout the Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur services:
“May the One who brings harmony on high, bring harmony to us and to all Israel [and to all who dwell on earth]. And respond with: Amen.”
Purpose
Turning Point ‘95, the first gathering of a multi-year initiative, was composed of three successive three-and-a-half-day seminars, August 13 to the 24, 1995. The meeting was held at the Dialogue Center of Oswiecim, Poland, located in very close proximity to Auschwitz.
The goal of the Turning Point was twofold: first, to honor and remember those who perished in the Nazi extermination camps, and second, to support the participants in deepening their personal commitment to actively co-creating a new context for humanity within which another Shoah would not only be unacceptable, but impossible.
Representing different religions, generations, countries, communities, and social and professional backgrounds, 367 people from 33 different countries came together for the Turning Point. These individuals drew upon the physical proximity to the camps to engage themselves and each other in building a forum for reflection, dialogue and action.
Participants
The participants represented diverse professional and social spheres. There were academics, leaders of Holocaust organizations, activists from a variety of human rights organizations, representatives from communities in conflict, clergymen, businessmen, scientists, health professionals, educators, students, artists, filmmakers, survivors of the Holocaust, children of survivors and children of perpetrators.
Some of the countries represented were the United States, Canada, Costa Rica, South Africa, Israel, the Philippines, Algeria, Italy, Turkey, Switzerland, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Finland, England, Northern Ireland, Russia, the Ukraine, Lithuania, Hungary, Romania, Poland, India, Korea and the former Yugoslavia. The individuals embraced a variety of religions and schools of thought: Roman Catholic, Christian Orthodox, Druse, Protestants, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Atheist and others.
Turning Point ’95 was organized and facilitated by the staff of ACC International Institute (Au Coeur de la Communication), based in Paris with offices in Montreal and San Francisco. There were three primary facilitators:
Claire Nuer, co-founder of ACC International Institute and primary designer and facilitator of the ACC educational process. She was a hidden child during the WWII, and lost her father in Auschwitz.
Sam Cohen, co-founder of ACC International Institute, co-designer and co-facilitator of the ACC programs; engineer and businessman.
Marc-André Olivier, Director of Program Development of ACC International Institute
Program
In each session, participants confronted and explored ways their own individual, family, and social histories interacted with the dynamics and realities that helped make Auschwitz possible. Participants visited the Auschwitz camps with guides and survivors; they worked individually on questions provided by the seminar leaders; they participated in round table discussions, and heard lectures and panel presentations; they responded in small groups to integrative questions; and they proposed projects for future action. Although similar in design and methodology, the three sessions were different, reflecting the distinctive composition of each group—their backgrounds, interests and needs.
First Evening:
Each session began with a general welcome and the presentation of information about logistics and the rules of functioning. Participants then responded to a series of questions designed to highlight the diversity of the group, the social and cultural factors that influence how each person writes his or her own biography and how each person identifies his or her motives for participating in the seminar. The session closed with an exercise encouraging the definition of group goals for the seminar.
The Mornings:
Each morning the group walked through the different camps: Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II-Birkenau, Auschwitz III-Monowitz. These walks offered a personal and concrete dimension to a tragedy that is often difficult to comprehend. Guides from the Auschwitz Museum provided the historical context, and camp survivors enhanced the participants’ understanding of the camps by sharing their personal experiences:
Bernard Offen: USA, born Jewish in Krakow, Poland, deported to several concentration camps including Auschwitz-Birkenau; Holocaust educator.
Zezette Larsen: USA, born Jewish in Belgium, survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Witness in the educational program of, and fundraiser for, Facing History and Ourselves.
Lucien Ducastel: France, deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau as a member of the French Resistance, witness in many schools.
The Afternoons:
Lectures by international speakers were presented in the afternoon, followed by question-and-answer sessions exploring a variety of topics.
Claire Nuer (France), introduced processes designed to support the participants in expressing and internalizing their experience of the camps, explored how individual actions are relayed and amplified through all segments of society, and addressed personal and social responsibility in a post-Holocaust world.
Father Stanislas Musial (Poland, Jesuit Priest, member of the Polish Episcopal Commission of Dialogue with Judaism), discussed anti-Semitism in Poland, the “Carmelite Affair,” and his commitment against prejudice and intolerance.
Professor Eli Tsur (Israel, historian, Holocaust specialist at Givat Haviva, the major Israeli institute that specializes in Palestinian–Jewish dialogue), explained the historical context that led to Auschwitz.
Dr. Samson Munn (USA, radiologist, son of two camp survivors, founder of an Austrian dialogue group between children of Holocaust survivors and children of Nazi perpetrators), talked about his participation in the prestigious Dan Bar-On dialogue group that brings together children of victims and of victimizers.
Gottfried Wagner (Germany, great grandson of Richard Wagner, whose family was very involved in the Nazi movement, spokesman and co-founder of the Post Holocaust Dialogue Group), shared his personal commitment to educating the public about the Holocaust and facilitating a shift from guilt and passivity to constructive action.
Daniel Kim (USA, co-founder of and researcher at the MIT Organizational Learning Center), discussed the crucial role business leaders will need to assume in creating a more humanitarian twenty-first century.
Dr. Joel Cohen(USA, biophysicist, son of a scientist who helped develop the atomic bomb), discussed the responsibility of scientists in guiding the world’s application of their research.
The Evenings:
In the evening, specific participants could discuss topics or questions that were directly related to their personal and/or professional experiences. These round-table discussions deepened the group’s understanding of the events and ideas of the day. Questions and discussions included the following:
• Business leaders discussed “What are the roles and responsibilities of business and business leaders in historical events–past, present and future?”
• Witnesses of each of the communities in conflict in ex-Yugoslavia were asked “What does it mean to be in Auschwitz when you come from a country or community that is in conflict today?”
• Leaders of humanitarian organizations were asked “How can we build a sustainable society?”
• Adolescents were asked “When is it right to disobey?”
Projects
Part of each session was devoted to the creation of projects and concrete action plans by small groups determined by areas of interest: –education, health, business, conflict resolution and dialogue. These projects responded to the question “How can we contribute to creating a context of humanity rather than a context of destruction?”
This meeting inspired in one participant to create a series of drawings, another young woman wrote a collection of poems, and adolescent attendees drew a number of illustrations documenting their experiences of Auschwitz.
There are 180 hours of video archives from the three sessions, which are composed of onsite survivor testimonials, participant interviews, and the work done during the seminar. From this, an initial forty-minute video presenting the gatherings’ content was created by three young filmmakers.
In each session, a group of participants formed a committee to support the development of the next Turning Point meeting.
Public Input
Since the end of the meetings, participants have sent in numerous written testimonials about their impressions of Turning Point, sharing memories, thoughts, emotions and suggestions. These letters are an essential tool in ACC’s self-evaluation process and will guide and encourage the development of Turning Point ’96.
Other Major Speakers and Panelists
Ilia Altman (Russia), President of the Holocaust Research and Educational Center.
Gerardo Budowski (Costa Rica), former director of UICN (World Union for Nature). Director of the environmental department of the Peace University.
Suzanne Chaumet (France), former member of the French resistance, survivor of the Ravensbrück camp.
Yaïr Dalal (Israel), author and composer of the song played at the Oslo peace agreement ceremony between Israelis and Palestinians.
Tommaso De Cataldo (Italy), co-founder of Umani Diritti, member of a Post Holocaust Dialogue Group.
Ety Edlund (Israel), co-director of the school in Neve Shalom/Wahat al Salam, an Israeli village where Jewish and Palestinian families have lived together since 1970.
Jakub Gutenbaum (Poland), Jewish survivor of several extermination camps, President of the Polish Association of the Children of the Holocaust.
Wajeeh Kayouf (Israel), Israeli government advisor on Arab Affairs, Ministry of Domestic Affairs.
Henry F. Knight (USA), Chaplain and Associate Professor of Religion at the University of Tulsa.
Stuart Muzinski (USA), President of the “Remember the Children” Foundation Tonci Majic: Croatia, President of the Dalmatian Committee for Human Rights.
Father Pierre (France), founder of the Emmaüs Communities.
Armand Volkas (USA), drama therapist specializing in dialogue between communities in conflict, child of Auschwitz survivors.
And many others, including children and relatives of Holocaust survivors.
Audio and Video Interviews
Martin Gray (France), writer, speaker, president of the foundation for human rights at the “Arche de la défense” in Paris, survivor of several extermination camps.
Special Thanks:
ACC Paris and ACC San Francisco are deeply grateful to all those who contributed to making Turning Point ’95 possible.