Lawrence Baron

Laurie Baron

Lawrence (Laurie) Baron, now retired, served as the Nasatir Professor of Modern Jewish History at San Diego State University. He served from 1988 to 2006 as director of SDSU’s Lipinsky Institute for Judaic Studies. He was the founder in 1995 of the Western Jewish Studies Association.

He writes two satire columns for San Diego Jewish World: “Humoring the Headlines” under his byline, and “Hounding the Headlines,” under the byline of his dog Elona.

[showhide type=”pressrelease” more_text=”Show More” less_text=”Show Less”]

Books to his credit, available on Amazon, include:

Projecting the Holocaust into the Present: The Changing Focus of Contemporary Holocaust Cinema

The Modern Jewish Experience in World Cinema

The eclectic anarchism of Erich Muhsam (Men & movements in the history & philosophy of anarchism)

His most recent articles are:

“Making Room for the Jews: The House I Live In (1945),” AJS Perspectives, Summer 2023, 86-88.  

“The Revolt of Job: Salvaging the Lost World of Rural Hungarian Hasidim,” Journal of Jewish Identities, 16:1-2 (January/July 2023), 181-198.

“Persistent Parallels, Resistant Particularities: Holocaust Analogies and Avoidance in Armenian Genocide Centennial Cinema, in Armenian and Jewish Experience between Expulsion and Destruction, ed. Sarah M. Ross and Regina Randhofer (Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2021), 267-296.

“The Pioneering American Jewish Women Directors from Elaine May to Claudia Weill,” Jews and Gender (Studies in Jewish Civilization), ed. Leonard Greenspoon (W. Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 2021), 217-243.

[/showhide]

Our Shtetl San Diego County: Rose Schindler’s Hologram Addresses Students

In technology similar to that seen at such presidential museums as the Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, the Schindler family has preserved the memory of the late Holocaust survivor Rose Schindler by creating a hologram of her that can answer questions from students or other audience members. [SDJW staff]

Our Shtetl San Diego County: Rose Schindler’s Hologram Addresses Students Read More »

Holocaust, Israel, Jewish History, Lawrence Baron, Middle East, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Shanda File, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

SD International Jewish Film Festival Preview: ‘Kidnapped’

The movie viscerally reenacts the wrenching of Edgardo from his home, the anguish it caused his family, and the divisions it created among Italian Jewish leaders who worried that overt protests would jeopardize their already precarious position in the Papal States. [Laurie Baron]

SD International Jewish Film Festival Preview: ‘Kidnapped’ Read More »

Lawrence Baron, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

‘Charlotte’ and ‘My Father’s Secrets’ Animate the Holocaust

The animated feature film Charlotte chronicles the unfolding of her personal and creative development in Berlin between 1933 and 1939 and her temporary haven in France thereafter. While its emphasis remains on her autobiography, the dangers posed by Nazi antisemitism loom in the background with a few paintings depicting a Nazi rally, her expulsion from the Academy of Arts on racial grounds, Kristallnacht, and her father’s return as a physically broken man from being interned at Sachsenhausen after the Nazi rampage in 1938. [Laurie Baron]

‘Charlotte’ and ‘My Father’s Secrets’ Animate the Holocaust Read More »

Holocaust, International, Jewish History, Lawrence Baron, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Our Shtetl San Diego County: ‘Shabbat Markets’ Scheduled at Lawrence Family JCC

On three upcoming Thursdays — Jan. 25, March 21, May 23 – the “Shabbat market” will be held from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. outside the Lawrence Family JCC in the areas known as the Jerri-Ann & Gary Jacobs Family Harmony Village, Hannah & Mark Glieberman Playground, and the Sharon & David Wax Family Pavilion. [SDJW staff report]

Our Shtetl San Diego County: ‘Shabbat Markets’ Scheduled at Lawrence Family JCC Read More »

Israel, Lawrence Baron, San Diego County, Sandi Masori, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Last Word: A Satiric Review of 2023

By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO – Laughing to keep from crying, here’s a look back at 2023: January My Blue Kevin (Melody: My Blue Heaven) The GOP votes multiple times. ‘Cause the crazies reject blue Kevin. Turn to the right, the extreme MAGA right Will make him the blue, blue Kevin. He bargained away, whatever

Last Word: A Satiric Review of 2023 Read More »

International, Lawrence Baron, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA

Satire: Infusing Trump’s Christmas Message With Holiday Spirit

By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — While most Christians were wishing everyone goodwill and peace, Donald Trump posted the following message on Truth Social (which really should be renamed Truth Antisocial): “Merry Christmas to all, including Crooked Joe Biden’s ONLY HOPE, Deranged Jack Smith, the out-of-control Lunatic who just hired outside attorneys, fresh from the

Satire: Infusing Trump’s Christmas Message With Holiday Spirit Read More »

Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Satire: Potpourri

By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — A Brooklyn man was convicted of robbing a matzah factory.  He was sentenced to eight years in Unleavenworth. Donald Trump denied charges that he had read Mein Kampf or plagiarized from Hitler when he declared that migrants were poisoning the blood of the United States.  He reminded his MAGA

Satire: Potpourri Read More »

Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire