Jane Wells Invites You To
History Rhymes:
The Great Unraveling

Please join us as we bestow

Sidney Bernstein Award
upon Roger Cohen

Paris Bureau Chief and former Op-Ed
columnist of The New York Times.
History Rhymes: The Great Unraveling.
A special lunch and discussion between Roger Cohen and Stephen D. Smith, Memory Workers Co-Founder.

3 Generations’
Sidney Bernstein Award

Inspired by the man who was responsible for documenting the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps, Sidney Bernstein Award celebrates a storyteller in any medium with the courage and integrity to chronicle our history as evidence for future generations.

Expect an informative and challenging conversation with a man who has his finger on the pulse of current world affairs. 

Roger Cohen

has worked at The New York Timesfor more than three decades, as foreign editor, an Opinion columnist and a foreign correspondent, reporting from all over the world. Before that he worked at Reuters and The Wall Street Journal in Europe and South America.

He received the 2023 Pulitzer Prize and a George Polk Award as part of The Times reporting team covering the war in Ukraine, and a 2024 George Polk Award as part of The Times team covering the war between Israel and Hamas. In 2021, Roger received the Légion d’Honneur from the French Republic for his work over four decades.

He is the author of five books, including a family memoir entitled, “The Girl from Human Street: Ghosts of Memory in a Jewish Family,” and the recent, “An Affirming Flame: Meditations on Life and Politics.” He has taught journalism at Princeton and Indiana University, Bloomington, and the role of diplomacy as a fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center.

Roger grew up in England and South Africa and graduated from Oxford. He is a naturalized American citizen.

Stephen D. Smith

is a respected figure in the fields of oral history, genocide studies, and innovative memory preservation technologies. His career is marked by numerous groundbreaking initiatives and leadership roles. Smith served for twelve years as Executive Director of USC Shoah Foundation, the archive founded by Steven Spielberg to document the Holocaust and global genocides. He currently holds the position of USC Visiting Professor of Religion, focusing his research on genocide-related testimony.

Most recently, Smith co-founded Memory Workers, adding to his impressive roster of innovative projects. He is also the co-founder of StoryFile, the world’s first AI Conversational Video platform, which continues to revolutionize how we preserve and interact with human experiences.

As an international speaker, documentary film producer, and oral historian specializing in immersive media, Smith has gained global recognition for his work. His contributions to the award-winning Dimensions in Testimony project, which can be experienced in select museums worldwide, have been particularly impactful. His expertise extends to practical applications of memory preservation.

As an author, Smith has published several books, including, “ The Holocaust and the Christian World.” (2016), “Never Again, Yet Again” (2019), “The Trajectory of Holocaust Memory” (2023). His work uniquely combines his theological background with cutting-edge technology to preserve and share the stories of Holocaust and genocide survivors.

HOST COMMITTEE
  • Florence Buchanan
  • Ulrika Citron
  • Sophie Caruth and David Bernstein
  • Heidi Drymer
  • Catherine Ingram
  • Frances Lalas
  • Judy McGrath
  • Esther Pearlstone
  • Francesca Unsworth
  • Alexander H. Wells
  • Nadia Zilkha
  • Nina & Michael Zilkha
Sponsored By
  • The St. James’s Trust
  • Ulrika & Joel Citron
  • Heidi Drymer & Peter Graham
  • Nadia Zilkha & Larry Stein

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