In the early 20th century, Budapest was the second-largest Jewish city in Europe, and Jewish artists and intellectuals played a major role in the city’s cosmopolitan cultural life. Among them was theater and cinema director and producer Béla Pásztor, whose career was marked by early success and later oppression.

In a conversation with history professor Deborah Hertz, Béla’s son Rafael Pastor explores his family’s history before, during, and after the Nazi occupation of Hungary, including his parents’ emigration to Israel, where he was born. Rafael holds a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and a law degree from New York University School of Law. He has served as CEO, president, and in other senior executive roles at some of the world’s largest media and entertainment companies. He currently serves on several corporate and nonprofit boards, including the UC San Diego Foundation Board, the Rady School of Management’s Dean’s Advisory Council, and as chairman of the International Advisory Board of the School of Global Policy and Strategy.

In commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the deportations and annihilations of Hungarian Jews in 1944, which Béla survived in hiding, the conversation will be preceded by a brief historical overview and survivor testimonies of this harrowing—and unforgettable—tragedy.

All Holocaust Living History Workshop events are free and open to the public, but registration is required. Registration will open approximately one month before the event date.

Sponsor: Judi Gottschalk

About the Holocaust Living History Workshop

This event is a part of the Holocaust Living History Workshop (HLHW) series, an education and outreach program sponsored by the UC San Diego Library and the Jewish Studies program. It aims to preserve the memories of the victims and survivors of the Holocaust by offering public events involving witnesses, descendants and scholars and through the use of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute’s Visual History Archive. Past HLHW workshops are now part of the Library’s digital collections and can be accessed online.