ENGLISH CORNER, CON LINDA JIMÉNEZ – This week’s trivia question: What two things does the International Institute of the Righteous do?
Guy Stern was born into a Jewish family in Germany in 1922. At the age of 15 his father sent him to the United States to live with an uncle in St. Louis, Missouri. He served with the Ritchie Boys, a special unit of the American Army during World War II and later became a professor and scholar of German and comparative literature, with an emphasis on exile literature. He is currently the director of the International Institute of the Righteous at the Holocaust Memorial Center Zekelman Family Campus in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Professor Stern has won many awards during his life, including the American Bronze Star, the French Knight of the Legion of Honor Medal, and Distinguished Germanist of the Year, the Grand Order of Merit and the Goethe Medal of the Federal Republic of Germany awards.
Stern has recently published his autobiography, Invisible Ink. The book is divided into thirteen chapters, each describing a pivotal moment in Stern’s life, and is written in an engaging style with surprisingly vivid detail. It’s a very enjoyable read and can be ordered here.
