The Romanian Cultural Institute in Vienna and the Romanian Embassy in Austria present on March 6, starting 18.00h, at their headquarters on 39, Argentinierstrasse , the documentary Braving the Storm – Doctor Alexandru Șafran (1995, directed by Ion Bitu and Manase Radnev).
The doc is a Romanian language production of the Film TV Studios and is distributed with the support of the Romanian Television (Programmes, Media Archives and Documentaries division).
Born in 1910, son of rabbi Bezalel Șafran from Bacau, Alexandru Șafran graduated the Philosophy Faculty of the Institute of Mosaic Theology in Vienna. In 1934, he got his doctorate and received the rabbi title of the Institute of Mosaic Theology and the one of great rabbi of the Israelite Consortium in Brussels. Back in Romania he follows in the steps of his father as a rabbi of the Jewish community in Bacau. In 1940 Alexandru Șafran becomes chief rabbi of the Mosaic Cult in Romania, the youngest chief rabbi in the world and senator in the Romanian Parliament as a representative of the Jewish population. During WWII he was the leader of the Resistance Committee of the Jewish population in Romania. In 1947, Alexandru Șafran was expelled from Romania and became, in 1948, great rabbi of the Jewish community in Geneva. He was a professor at different European, American and Israelite universities. He published numerous works, studies, essays, articles and books translated worlwide among which:
Cabala, The Wisdom of the Cabala, Israel in Time and Space, An Ember Pulled Out from the Flames and
Memories. For his entire activity, Alexandru Șafran is recognized as one of the most representative personalities of Judaism worldwide and especially of the Jewish population in Romania. In 1997, Alexandru Șafran became an Honorary Member of the Romanian Academy. (Source:
Academia Română)
The event is part of a series of events organized in the frame of Romania holding, between March 2016-March 2017, the presidency of the International Alliance for the Memory of the Holocaust (IHRA).
Details at:
www.rkiwien.at
