On the 29th of January, more than 150 guests flocked to the lecture hall H122 of the Faculty of Humanities. Prof. Gudrun Hentges, Department of Political Science, and »school is open« had Prof. Dr. Frank Stern from the University of Vienna invited for the kick-off of the project "100 Years of Alija von Alumni of the University of Cologne". The project is part of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the University of Cologne.

Prof. Dr. Frank Stern thrilled with the presentation of historical footage of Jugendalija from the 1930s. The lecture worked with unknown documentary and feature films, in which the escape of Jewish children and young people from German-speaking countries was detained before the anti-Semitic persecution to Israel. By the first legal, then illegally organized Jugendalija to Eretz Israel could be saved and survive a million single Jewish children and young people before the Shoah. For example, the film "The Live Again" shows the so-called Tehran children, who, accompanied by a few adults in three years, made a mischief through half the world (Siberia, India, Tehran, Israel) to come to Israel. Even after the war, Jews tried to enter the British Mandate Palestine illegally. There were groups of Jewish refugees on the illegal and dangerous escape routes, e.g. across the Alps, accompanied by filmmakers, as can be seen in the documentary "Habricha".

The guests were very impressed by the many different films that have now been shown to a larger audience. Seeing Jewish life before, during, and after the Shoah and Jewish films of that time was very moving for many visitors, and shows that these documents deserve much more public attention.

On January 29, a full-page interview with Prof. Dr. Frank Stern in the Kölner Stadtanzeiger (link) on the topic.