Michael Berenbaum
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Michael Berenbaum is an American scholar, professor, writer, and film-maker, who specializes in the study of the memorialization of the Holocaust. He is perhaps most famous for his work as Project Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and as such should be considered the creator of the museum.
Berenbaum, who is Jewish, graduated from Queens College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1967 and received his doctorate from Florida State University in 1975. He also attended The Hebrew University, the Jewish Theological Seminary and Boston University. Berenbaum received Rabbinic ordination (Orthodox) by Rabbi Yaakov Rabin at the age of 23.
Berenbaum has held teaching posts at Florida State University, the University of Judaism (Los Angeles), Yale University, Georgetown University, Wesleyan University, George Washington University, the University of Maryland, College Park, and American University.
He is the author and editor of twelve books, including After Tragedy and Triumph, a study of the state of American Jewry in the early 1990s. At present, Rabbi Berenbaum is serving as the editor for the 'Americana' and Holocaust sections of the Encyclopaedia Judaica.
Berenbaum co-produced One Survivor Remembers: The Gerda Weissmann Klein Story, a film which was recognized with an Academy award, an Emmy Award and the Cable Ace Award. In 2001, Berenbaum was historical consultant for the History Channel's The Holocaust: The Untold Story, which won the CINE Goldgen Eagle Award and a Silver Medal at the US International Film and Video Festival. He was also Executive Producer of a film entitled Desperate Hours on the Holocaust in Turkey and on "About Face: The Story of The Jewish Refugee Soldiers of WWII"
Berenbaum's wife is the president of the California chapter of the MPAA.
