A Guest at the Shooters' Banquet: My Grandfather and the SS, My Jewish Family, A Search for the Truth

Ruth Gay Seminar in Jewish Studies Inaugurated in 2008 thanks to a major gift from the family of Ruth Gay, the Ruth Gay Seminar in Jewish Studies was established in honor of Ruth Gay (1922-2006), the noted American Jewish historian and writer. This series is given by scholars who use the YIVO Archives and wish to share their research with the public. Admission: Free

Born into a family of East European Jews and Lithuanian Catholics, poet and reporter Rita Gabis (Hunter College) recently discovered that her Lithuanian grandfather was not only a resistance fighter—he was Chief of Security under the Gestapo where two massacres took place. Gabis discusses researching her family’s story in Eastern Europe, Israel and at YIVO, as well as interviews with last survivors and eyewitnesses for her new memoir A Guest at the Shooters’ Banquet: My Grandfather and the SS, My Jewish Family, A Search for the Truth. (September 8, 2015, Bloomsbury US/UK). Gabis closes her remarks with a reading from the book.

About A Guest at the Shooters’ Banquet from historian Timothy Snyder: “This true-life bildungsroman sets an example, in its honesty, industry, and artfulness for writers who wish to confront the past.” A starred Kirkus review calls Gabis “an indefatigable historian” and her book…”An eloquent testimony to war’s enduring, violent impact.”

About the Speaker

Rita Gabis is the recipient of a NYFA grant for non-fiction, the Curtis Harnack residency at Yaddo, as well as a fellowship at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown.  Her poetry collection “The Wild Field” was published by Alice James Books and other work has appeared in numerous anthologies and journals including Harvard Review and Poetry.  She lives in New York City and teaches writing at Hunter College.