Arnold Schwartzman

This is such an interesting book! I never gave much thought to Jewish gravestones or what was on them other than the Hebrew names of the deceased plus the birth and death dates.

This book is about the Jewish prohibition on graven images (the second commandment) and how gravestone craftsmen somehow didn't quite follow that commandment. The book goes on to describe and show color photographs of these "graven images" from gravestones, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, in several European show more countries. Each symbol is explained with a biblical quote and then followed by a more detailed and specific explanation.

The most disturbing picture of the book was of a wall built by non-Jewish students from 15th- and 16th-century gravestones desecrated during World War II. It just served to remind me that gravestone desecration in Jewish cemeteries is not simply a happening of the distant past. show less

The author tries to bring the decorative Art Deco details, rather than the buildings themselves, into focus in this wonderful work. All color photos are of Art Deco style renditions found in Los Angeles. A very important work preserving a style which held dominance for some time within the Los Angeles creative imagination. The Mission style also dominated but the landmark status usually found Art Deco to adorn the architecture. The Doheny mansion is the only well known building to be left out.

I do love cemeteries….a little disappointed that France was not represented in the book - wondering whether there is a companion piece (even though this seems otherwise comprehensive!)

NO OF PAGES: 0 SUB CAT I: Holocaust SUB CAT II: SUB CAT III: DESCRIPTION: Genocide tells the heart-wrenching, yet often heroic story of the millions of men, women and children who fell victim to Hitler's Final Solution. Narrated by Elizabeth Taylor and Orson Welles, this landmark film received the 1981 Academy Award for best feature documentary, the first Holocaust film to be given this honor. Using archival film footage and compelling still photography, the extraordinary documentary traces show more the evolution of the Holocaust in fascinating and horrifying detail and chronicles the scourge of anti-Semitism from Biblical times to the rise of Nazism. You'll see how the thriving Jewish culture in pre-war Europe fell victim to the systematic slaughter wrought by the Nazi juggernaut. But the heart of this brilliant film is Elizabeth Taylor's moving narrative of ordinary people caught up in the Nazi reign of terror. Their individual stories of suffering and heroism challenge the viewer - to see the victims as human beings, and to remember.NOTES: Purchased from the Amazon Marketplace. SUBTITLE: To Honor Them, You Must Remember show less