New Events
Upcoming Programs
Each year, we present four to six public programs, in-person or by video format.
The topics and presenters are appealing and diverse. Recent presenters have offered insights about community pioneers and early leaders; immigration patterns and neighborhood changes; the old synagogues of Chicago’s West and South Sides, along with newer ones of the North Side and suburbs; Jews and organized crime; Jewish accomplishments in art, music, literature, science, sports, and politics; and many more fascinating subjects.
Upcoming Program
Spectacular Outcry: The Anti-Nazi Spectacles of American Jews (1933-1946) Part II
Sunday, March 8, 2026, 12 p.m. Central
This program will focus on two pageants by Chicago journalist Ben Hecht, whose 1943 pageant We Will Never Die was a plea and wake-up call to the world to stop the further genocide of Europe’s Jews, 2 million of whom had already perished at the hands of the Nazis. Hecht went on, in 1946, to present on Broadway A Flag Is Born, an artistic spectacle about the need for Palestine as a refuge for Jewish Holocaust survivors. The play starred Paul Muni, Celia Adler, and a very young Marlon Brando.
Citron will discuss in depth how both of Hecht’s productions faced, somewhat surprisingly, strong opposition from the Jewish establishment, even though We Will Never Die influenced FDR’s decision to establish the War Refugee Board in 1944.
View details about upcoming CJHS programs, along with registration information. Virtual programs, via Zoom, are free to all participants. In-person programs are free for members – another membership benefit. (Non-members pay an entrance fee.)
Our virtual programs are recorded and archived for free viewing.