Presented by Phil Brown, Northeastern University

The Catskills was a summer haven for both Holocaust survivors and those who had arrived earlier. Jews sought ways to release their rising fears and ongoing anxieties during and after the war years by engaging in community life while living beside the disaster. Jews began to vacation without guilt in “The Mountains”, opening the floodgates of the “Golden Era” of the 1950s and 1960s when over a thousand hotels and bungalow colonies operated in what was then probably the world’s largest resort area. In this talk Phil examines the lives of local residents and resort owners, guests, and workers during the Holocaust and immediately after. He will also discuss the many works of fiction and non-fiction dealing with this era