Latest news with #German-Jewish
Spectator
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Spectator
Picture perfect: Locatelli at the National Gallery reviewed
I feel for Locatelli, the new Italian restaurant inside the National Gallery, whose opening coincides with the 200th anniversary of the gallery and a rehang which I can't see the point of because I want to watch Van Eyck in the dark. Locatelli must compete with the Caravaggio chicken, which is really called 'Supper at Emmaus' if you are an art historian or an adult. In the publicity photographs the chef Giorgio Locatelli is actually standing in front of the Caravaggio chicken. It looks as if Jesus is waving at Giorgio Locatelli but the chicken is unmoved. It stole all the gravitas. 'Locatelli is the National Gallery's new Italian master with the latest chapter of his beloved London restaurant,' said Wallpaper* magazine idiotically: Wallpaper*, of all magazines, should know better than to compare Bacchus and Ariadne with ravioli. Locatelli hangs in a mezzanine in the Sainsbury Wing, which is all mezzanine and one gilded staircase to heaven. It is fiercely generic in creams, beiges and golds and though I understand why they did it – they did it because it will remind the sorts of people who can afford to eat at Locatelli of their own houses in west London – I wish they hadn't. I know the British don't really do the visual arts, except motorcars. We have one perfect painter, J.M.W. Turner (working-class, of course), plus Frank Auerbach (a German-Jewish refugee who painted anguish), so the best of it is seascapes and screaming. Locatelli sprouts from another hinterland: poised and avoidant anti-art, a place without conflict or regret. It's a rental flat in W1, a neutral cashmere cardigan, the VIP area at Glastonbury and – and this is what is unforgivable – it is inches from the Renaissance. What's left of it, which isn't much, to be fair. Beige moleskin banquettes do not belong near Velázquez's 'Rokeby Venus', which a suffragette attacked in 1914, possibly because Venus is showing so much arse. (I feel the same way about MTV.) If you want to eat in a mock-up of Hans Holbein's 'The Ambassadors' or the 'Arnolfini Marriage' – and I do very much, I love a themed restaurant if the theme is more than nothingness and ease – Locatelli is not for you. It is, rather, for those who seek immaculate Italian cuisine. We eat a salad of Parma ham, pear and aged balsamic; burrata with spring vegetable and mint salad; veal tortelloni with gremolada and parmesan sauce; tagliatelle with beef and pork ragout; an immense rib-eye steak; a chocolate cake; a tiramisu. It is all sinuous and beautiful: Italian, not Flemish art then, and I prefer the Flemish school. I understand why the National Gallery wants a real restaurant, as the Royal Academy has. (José Pizarro at the RA is exquisite, as no one has ever said about the Summer Exhibition, which seems to be painted by people who have been on Jim'll Fix It.) They want to remake it as another polished lifestyle destination: that is the rehang. Yet there is something savage about the National Gallery, and not just because it is built on the site of the former royal stables so, were you a medium or Hilary Mantel, you would hear ghostly neighs as white Jesuses wave at you. Look around: where you find civilisation, barbarism will be close at hand. Art should not make you hungry: it should drive you mad. In 1987, a man shot Leonardo's Burlington House Cartoon of the Virgin and friends. I take a bite of impeccable tiramisu, and I understand.
Express Tribune
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Andy Samberg shares new twist in his mom's adoption story
Andy Samberg recently opened up about a surprising discovery connected to his mother Marjorie's adoption. Speaking on Amy Poehler's podcast Good Hang, Samberg described a moment that felt "like from a movie." Back in 2019, the two appeared on the show Finding Your Roots, where Marjorie, who was adopted, learned the identities of her biological parents. Her birth mother was a German-Jewish refugee, and her father an Italian immigrant. She also discovered a number of half-siblings and cousins on both sides of her family. What Samberg shared now is a striking coincidence that emerged after the show aired. Both sides of his mother's biological family had, independently, located the same photograph, a dated image of her parents together during their brief romance in San Francisco in 1946. Neither side had known the other existed until the show aired. 'They both found the same picture of them together,' Samberg recalled. He suggested that someone had kept the photo in the hope that Marjorie might one day reconnect with her roots. He also noted that tracing her origins was complicated by the fact that she was adopted through the Louise Wise agency, which was later revealed to have withheld or falsified records in many adoptions. Now in her 70s, Marjorie has since met multiple biological relatives. Samberg said the photo discovery brought his mother unexpected joy and a sense of peace she hadn't thought possible.
Miami Herald
25-06-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Levi Strauss analyst resets price target, assesses tariff impact before Q2 report
Get ready for the Swoosh. Back in 1853, a German-Jewish immigrant by the name of Levi Strauss moved from Bavaria, Germany, to San Francisco to open a West Coast branch of his brothers' New York dry goods business. Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter That company grew to be one of the largest apparel companies and the largest pants maker in the world. Times have certainly changed since those early days in the City by the Bay, and now Levi Strauss & Co. (LEVI) is gearing up for its latest collaboration: with athletic apparel and footwear giant Nike (NKE) . Related: Analysts reboot Nike stock price targets ahead of earnings Levi's x Nike Air Max 95, a trio of denim sneakers with the famous Nike Swoosh logo, as well as jeans and a denim jacket, are scheduled to debut in July, according to Women's Wear Daily. The first two editions maintain a monochrome arrangement, while the third makes use of light and dark washes, WWD said. Bloomberg/Getty Images The people at Levi Strauss pride themselves on the company's staying power. Back in April, when President Donald Trump unveiled his sweeping tariff agenda, Michelle Gass, Levi's president and CEO, noted that the plan posed a significant challenge but maintained that "our business and our brands have endured for 170 years, proving our resilience." "Today, the Levi's brand is stronger than ever with diversified global revenue, solid margin structure, agile sourcing base with deep vendor relationships and a strong balance sheet," she told analysts during the company's first-quarter earnings call. "We are well positioned to manage through this uncertain time." The first-quarter results beat Wall Street's expectations, and Gass said "we're starting the year with momentum." Related: Netflix analysts turn heads with stock price target updates "Our new products are resonating and driving market share gains," she said. "We have a robust product pipeline that will fuel growth in our denim and nondenim business for the rest of '25 and beyond." The company is encouraged by the performance of its global wholesale channel, which was up 5%, driven by strong growth in the U.S., she said. "U.S. wholesale exceeded our expectations in the quarter, up 9%, in part driven by door expansion and more space with our broadened lifestyle assortment," she said. In May, Levi Strauss said it had agreed to sell the casual brand Dockers to Authentic Brands Group for $311 million. Citi raised its price target on Levi Strauss to $19 from $14 and affirmed a neutral rating on the shares, after the Dockers announcement, according to The Fly. The investment firm noted that beyond the selling price, Levi could receive as much as an additional $80 million depending on how the business performs under ABG. The sale of Dockers was "expected but a positive," Citi said, adding that the sale price "seems reasonable." Barclays raised its price target on Levi Strauss to $20 from $18 and maintained an overweight rating after the Dockers sale was unveiled. Related: Analysts adjust Kroger stock price targets after mixed earnings report Through regular trading on June 24 Levi Strauss shares are up 7.6% this year and down 19% from a year ago. The company is scheduled to report second-quarter earnings on July 10. On June 24 Bank of America Global Research analyst Christopher Nardone raised his price target to $21 from $20 and reiterated a buy rating on the shares. The analyst, who says the brand is gaining market share and wholesale is becoming less of a drag, forecast Q2 earnings per share of 14 cents, a penny higher than consensus, due to its stronger revenue forecast. Nardone and fellow analyst Lorraine Hutchinson noted that Levi Strauss last reported results on April 7, just after the initial tariff rates were released, and tariffs were not included in the company's guidance. B of A's analysis found that a 10% global tariff and 55% on China imports would equate to a 3.6% increase in LEVI's cost of goods sold, which are the direct costs associated with producing goods or services for sale; and a 1.4-percentage-point hit to gross margins. The analysts called Levi Strauss well-positioned to navigate the tariffs due to its high international exposure, which makes up 57% of sales. The company also has minimal China-to-US sourcing, as well as a diversified supply chain and strong brand equity, which should benefit LEVI, B of A said. Related: Fund-management veteran skips emotion in investment strategy The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
DW
18-06-2025
- General
- DW
Resisting oblivion: 70 years of the Leo Baeck Institute – DW – 06/18/2025
The Nazis wanted to destroy Jewish life in Germany. Jewish intellectuals founded the Leo Baeck Institute ten years after the Holocaust to save the nation's diverse German-Jewish heritage. When the German rabbi Leo Baeck was liberated from the Theresienstadt concentration camp on May 8, 1945, the day the war ended, he no longer believed in a future for Jewish people in Germany. Who wanted to live in the country that had planned to exterminate German Jewry and murdered millions? "The era of the Jews in Germany," Baeck said at the time, "is over once and for all." This assessment was shared by most survivors at the time. But what would become of centuries of German Jewish culture? Who would remember the music of Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Arnold Schönberg, the literature of Joseph Roth, Franz Kafka, Alfred Döblin or Else Lasker-Schüler? Even during the years of persecution, preserving German-Jewish cultural heritage was part of the resistance, says the Israeli-Austrian historian, Doron Rabinovici. After 1945, when the full extent of the Holocaustbecame visible, this task seemed all the more urgent. "Remembrance was also resistance against forgetting, against erasure," he told DW of the attempted destruction of Jewish culture during 12 years of Nazi rule. The Leo Baeck Institute in New York is one of three set up in major emigration points for German Jewry, including London and Jerusalem Image: Max Stein/Imago Showing what the Nazis destroyed In 1955, ten years after World War II ended, a group of German-speaking Jewish intellectuals including philosopher Hannah Arendt and historian Gershom Scholem founded the Leo Baeck Institute (LBI) "to show what the Nazis had destroyed," explained Michael Brenner, professor of Jewish history and culture at Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich. The institute would celebrate "cultural achievements, but also the everyday life of German Jews," said Brenner, who has also been the president of the Institute since 2013. The LBI was named after Rabbi Leo Baeck, the "great religious and spiritual shining light of liberal German Jewry,' the historian added. Baeck became the first president, but died in 1956, one year after the institute was founded. New York, London and Jerusalem were the most important destinations for Jewish emigrants after the war, and these were also the three locations of the LBI. The myth of Germany's post-Nazi 'zero hour' explained To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Research institute promoting German Jewish heritage What made the LBI special from the very beginning was its collection of historical objects come mostly from Jewish refugees or their descendants: Books, letters, photos, and also works of art. Today, the LBI is the most important research institute for the heritage of German Jewry. The majority of the LBI collections have been digitized and made accessible online, with scholars and descendants of Jewish survivors globally using the service comprising more than 3.5 million pages. An annual yearbook is also published, events are organized, and young people in science are supported. The LBI also produced the four-volume standard work, "German-Jewish History in the Modern Era." Work is currently underway on a history of the German-Jewish diaspora. Some might be surprised to know that the LBI has existed so long, but few might have expected a branch to open in Berlin. As contemporary witnesses die out and descendants lose touch with their origins, the LBI is trying to keep interest in German-Jewish cultural heritage alive with new projects. These include the podcast "Exile,' narrated by German actress Iris Berben, which is based on letters, diaries and interviews from the LBI archive. Aimed at a younger audience, the podcast tells stories of people whose lives have been shaped by exile, flight or persecution. Commemorating the victims of World War II and Nazi Germany To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Attacks on academic life also threaten the LBI While the renowned research institute is celebrating its 70th birthday in 2025, this should not obscure the fact that its members, especially in the US, feel that their academic work is under threat. 'The situation in the USA, has not been made any easier by the attacks on academic life," said Michael Brenner of government policies to cut funding across universities. Historian and author Doron Rabinovici also sees a further threat from the global rise of right-wing parties. Leo Baeck's assessment in 1945 that Jewish life in Germany was over has not come true. But what will the next few years bring? A "resurgent Jewish existence" is only possible in an open society in which antisemitism is combated, warns Rabinovici. And combating antisemitismis not possible with right-wing extremists. In Germany, the 70th anniversary of the Leo Baeck Institute will be celebrated with a ceremony under the patronage of Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Speakers at this event will be the President of the LBI, Michael Brenner, and the Austrian historian and writer Doron Rabinovici. Holocaust survivor Margot Friedländer dies To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Canberra Times
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Canberra Times
Filmmaker who forced France to face its WWII past dies
Born in Frankfurt on November 1, 1927, Marcel Ophuls was the son of legendary German-Jewish filmmaker Max Ophuls and when Hitler came to power in 1933, the family fled Germany for France. In 1940, as Nazi troops approached Paris, they fled again — across the rugged Pyrenees into Spain, and on to the United States.
