Rafael Medoff
Encyclopedia
Rafael Medoff is founding director of The David Wyman
Institute for Holocaust Studies, which is based in Washington, D.C. and focuses on issues related to America's response to the Holocaust.
in 1991. In 2001 he was Visiting Scholar
in Jewish Studies
at the State University of New York at Purchase
.
Dr. Medoff has taught Jewish history
at Ohio State University
, Purchase College of the State University of New York
, and elsewhere.
Medoff has served on the editorial boards of American Jewish History
, Southern Jewish History, Shofar and Menorah Review.
He has been closely associated and Academic Council member of American Jewish Historical Society
for many years. He has served on its Academic Council since 1995, authored installments of its "Chapters in American Jewish History" series, and served as associate book review
editor
(1999–2001) and then associate editor (2002–2006) of its scholarly journal, American Jewish History. He has also served as a consultant to the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington and the Jewish Historical Society of Maryland.
. The Association of Jewish Librarians called it "a damning book that cannot be ignored" and "an important contribution to the study of the Holocaust period." His essays and reviews have appeared in many scholarly journals.
praised it as:
Lawrence Davidson of West Chester University cites Medoff's assertion in Zionism and the Arabs, that Zionists did not see the Palestinian Arabs as "a distinct national group with national rights-largely because the Palestinian Arabs themselves did not claim the status of a specific national grouping", to argue against Zionism on the grounds that "no one ruled against self- determination in other parts of Greater Syria where the same views prevailed."
He coauthored the Historical Dictionary of Zionism with Prof. Chaim I. Waxman, published by Scarecrow Press in 2000, with a revised and expanded edition in 2008. Choice Magazine
Israel Studies Bulletin reviewers called it "thorough and objective" (Choice) and "useful both for reference and course work ... user-friendly ... The authors have filled many gaps left by the standard histories of Zionism."
Baksheesh Diplomacy: Secret Negotiations Between American Jewish Leaders and Arab Officials on the Eve of World War II, was published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2001. Conservative Judaism
's reviewer called it:
His next book Militant Zionism in America: The Rise and Impact of the Jabotinsky Movement in the United States, 1926-1948, published by the University of Alabama Press
in 2002. Middle East Quarterly
's reviewer wrote:
in 2002, was named an "Outstanding Academic Title of 2002" by the American Library Association
's Choice Magazine
.
Medoff and David S. Wyman in 2002 coauthored the first scholarly study of the Holocaust rescue activists known as the Bergson Group, A Race Against Death: Peter Bergson, America, and the Holocaust, published by The New Press. In The New Republic, Dr. Michael Oren (today Israel's ambassador to the United States) called A Race Against Death "an important book [by] veteran chroniclers of America's shameful inaction during the Holocaust." The Jerusalem Post hailed it as "a must-read for Jewish leaders the world over, as well as for committed Jews and anyone interested in the response of American Jewry to the Holocaust." In response to the publication of A Race Against Death, officials of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, in Washington, D.C., announced that they would add materials about the Bergson Group to20the museum's permanent exhibit.
In The Deafening Silence, Medoff argues that had American Jewish leaders been more forceful in presenting the case for rescue of European Jews to the Roosevelt administration, they could have moved the administration to act. In Deborah Lipstadt
's review of Holocaust literature, she engages Medoff's argument, but concludes that "There is nothing on record to indicate that their outspoken support would have changed the mind of restrictionist legislators."
Together with former New York City Mayor Edward I. Koch, Medoff in 2008 coauthored The Koch Papers: My Fight Against Anti-Semitism, published by Palgrave MacMillan. It was named to the New York Post's "Required Reading" list. The Forward wrote: "The legendary former New York City mayor has never been shy about standing up for his fellow Jews. The hallmark of Koch's approach to this issue, as his book demonstrates, is a determination to confront bigotry--with steadfastness and an insistent sense of urgency."
Also in 2008, Purdue University Press
published his book Blowing the Whistle on Genocide: Josiah E. DuBois, Jr. and the Struggle for a U.S. Response to the Holocaust. The National Jewish Post and Opinion wrote: "Blowing the Whistle on Genocide brings to life an inspiring but little-known chapter of Holocaust history."
", a lengthy biographical essay published as a paperback by Ktav. Subsequently an updated version of that book was included in the two-volume Rav Chesed: Essays in Honor of Rabbi Dr. Haskel Lookstein, which Medoff edited, and was published by Ktav in 2009.
He authored installments of American Jewish Historical Society
's "Chapters in American Jewish History" series, and served as associate book review editor (1999–2001) and then associate editor (2002–2006) of its scholarly journal, American Jewish History.
Medoff's essays have appeared in various scholarly journals, including Studies in Zionism, Holocaust and Genocide Studies
, the Journal of Genocide Research
, American Jewish History
, and American Jewish Archives. He also served as guest editor for the autumn 2004 issue of the Journal of Ecumenical Studies.
He authored the essay "New Yorkers and the Birth of Israel", which was featured in the May 1998 New York Times supplement commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of Israel.
Dr. Medoff has also published op-eds concerning the Holocaust and related issues in such newspapers as the Los Angeles Times
, the Baltimore Sun, the Detroit Free Press
, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the New York Sun
, Ha'aretz, the Jerusalem Report, the Jerusalem Post, and Germany's largest daily newspaper, Süddeutsche Zeitung
.
, the Encyclopedia of the Diaspora, the Encyclopedia of American Jewish History, the Columbia History of the Jewish People in America, American National Biography
, the Global Encyclopedia of Historical Writing, and Jewish Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia.
on a comic book about the experiences of Dina Gottliebova Babbitt, a Holocaust survivor who attempted to regain paintings she did for Josef Mengele
in order to survive in Auschwitz. It was published in X-Men: Magneto: Testimony #5, in early 2009. On the seventieth anniversary of the voyage of the refugee ship St. Louis, Medoff collaborated with Pulitzer Prize
-winning cartoonist Art Spiegelman
on a full-page cartoon history of the voyage, published in the Washington Post in June 2009. Medoff also teamed up with comic book artist Sal Amendola
on a full-page political cartoon about U.S. athletes who boycotted the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which appeared in The New Republic
in August 2008. In addition, Medoff served as a consultant to Homeland, a graphic novel telling the history of Israel's creation, by comic book veterans Marv Wolfman
and Mario Ruiz.
In 2010, Medoff and comics creator Neal Adams
teamed with Disney Educational Productions to produce They Spoke Out: American Voices Against the Holocaust, an online educational motion comics series that tells stories of Americans who protested Nazis or helped rescue Jews during the Holocaust. Each standalone episode, which runs from five to ten minutes, utilizes a combination of archival film footage and animatics, and focus on a different person. The first episode, "La Guardia's War Against Hitler" was screened in April 2010 at a festival sponsored by the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art
, and tells the story of the forceful stand New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia took against Nazi Germany, in contrast to that of President Franklin Roosevelt, whom most historians feel did not do all he could have to save European Jews, a point underlined in the episode "Messenger from Hell". Other episodes include "Voyage of the Doomed", which focuses on the S.S. St. Louis, the ship that carried more than 900 German-Jewish refugees but was turned away by Cuban authorities and later the Roosevelt administration, and "Rescue Over the Mountains", which depicts Vivian Fry, the young journalist who led an underground rescue network that smuggled Jewish refugees out of Vichy, France.
Medoff has served as a consultant to a number of television and movie projects, including Holocaust: The Untold Story, (Freedom Forum Television Network / Newseum TV), which was broadcast on The History Channel
in 2001 and nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Television Documentary; Against the Tide, produced by the Simon Wiesenthal Center
's Moriah Films; In Our Own Hands: The Hidden Story of the Jewish Brigade in World War II; and Looking into the Face of Evil, produced by the Ohio Council on Holocaust Education; as well as programs concerning the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, for Israel Television and Italian National Television.
David Wyman
David S. Wyman is the author of several books on the responses of the United States to Nazi Germany's persecution of and programs to exterminate Jews....
Institute for Holocaust Studies, which is based in Washington, D.C. and focuses on issues related to America's response to the Holocaust.
Academic career
Medoff received his PhD from Yeshiva UniversityYeshiva University
Yeshiva University is a private university in New York City, with six campuses in New York and one in Israel. Founded in 1886, it is a research university ranked as 45th in the US among national universities by U.S. News & World Report in 2012...
in 1991. In 2001 he was Visiting Scholar
Visiting scholar
In the world of academia, a visiting scholar or visiting academic is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university, where he or she is projected to teach , lecture , or perform research on a topic the visitor is valued for...
in Jewish Studies
Jewish studies
Jewish studies is an academic discipline centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is interdisciplinary and combines aspects of history , religious studies, archeology, sociology, languages , political science, area studies, women's studies, and ethnic studies...
at the State University of New York at Purchase
State University of New York at Purchase
Purchase College, State University of New York, is a public four-year college located in Purchase, New York, United States. It is one of 13 comprehensive colleges in the State University of New York system...
.
Dr. Medoff has taught Jewish history
Jewish history
Jewish history is the history of the Jews, their religion and culture, as it developed and interacted with other peoples, religions and cultures. Since Jewish history is over 4000 years long and includes hundreds of different populations, any treatment can only be provided in broad strokes...
at Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
, Purchase College of the State University of New York
State University of New York
The State University of New York, abbreviated SUNY , is a system of public institutions of higher education in New York, United States. It is the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States, with a total enrollment of 465,000 students, plus...
, and elsewhere.
Medoff has served on the editorial boards of American Jewish History
American Jewish History
American Jewish History is an academic journal and the official publication of the American Jewish Historical Society. The journal was established in 1892 and focuses on all aspects of the American Jewish experience including discussions of culture, religion, and politics...
, Southern Jewish History, Shofar and Menorah Review.
He has been closely associated and Academic Council member of American Jewish Historical Society
American Jewish Historical Society
The American Jewish Historical Society was founded in 1892 with the mission to foster awareness and appreciation of the American Jewish heritage and to serve as a national scholarly resource for research through the collection, preservation and dissemination of materials relating to American...
for many years. He has served on its Academic Council since 1995, authored installments of its "Chapters in American Jewish History" series, and served as associate book review
Book review
A book review is a form of literary criticism in which a book is analyzed based on content, style, and merit. A book review could be a primary source opinion piece, summary review or scholarly review. It is often carried out in periodicals, as school work, or on the internet. Reviews are also often...
editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
(1999–2001) and then associate editor (2002–2006) of its scholarly journal, American Jewish History. He has also served as a consultant to the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington and the Jewish Historical Society of Maryland.
Views
Medoff has accused the U.S. State Department of downplaying official anti-Semitism in the Arab world, and made comparisons with State Department's downplaying of official German anti-Semitism in the 1930s.Books
Dr. Medoff is the author or editor of eleven books about American Jewish history, Zionism, and the Holocaust. His first book, The Deafening Silence: American Jewish Leaders and the Holocaust, was published in 1987 by Shapolsky Books, the U.S. division of the Israeli publisher SteimatzkySteimatzky
Steimatzky , is the oldest and largest bookstore chain in Israel, founded by Yechezkel Steimatzky in 1925.-Early history:The first store opened in 1925 on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem by Yechezkel Steimatzky a Russian-born immigrant from Germany...
. The Association of Jewish Librarians called it "a damning book that cannot be ignored" and "an important contribution to the study of the Holocaust period." His essays and reviews have appeared in many scholarly journals.
Zionism and American Jewish history
Medoff's Zionism and the Arabs: An American Jewish Dilemma, 1898–1948 was published by Praeger in 1997. Jerold S. Auerbach from American Jewish HistoryAmerican Jewish History
American Jewish History is an academic journal and the official publication of the American Jewish Historical Society. The journal was established in 1892 and focuses on all aspects of the American Jewish experience including discussions of culture, religion, and politics...
praised it as:
"a meticulously researched and carefully crafted analysis ...Any historian of the complex relationship of American Jews and Israel, indeed every serious student of Amreican Jewish history, must confront the American Jewish dilemma that Rafael Medoff has explored and explained in this fine monograph."
Lawrence Davidson of West Chester University cites Medoff's assertion in Zionism and the Arabs, that Zionists did not see the Palestinian Arabs as "a distinct national group with national rights-largely because the Palestinian Arabs themselves did not claim the status of a specific national grouping", to argue against Zionism on the grounds that "no one ruled against self- determination in other parts of Greater Syria where the same views prevailed."
He coauthored the Historical Dictionary of Zionism with Prof. Chaim I. Waxman, published by Scarecrow Press in 2000, with a revised and expanded edition in 2008. Choice Magazine
Choice magazine
CHOICE Magazine is a publication of the Australian Consumers' Association, a non-profit organisation founded in 1959 to research and advocate on behalf of Australian consumers. The organisation trades as CHOICE and is similar to Consumer Reports in the United States...
Israel Studies Bulletin reviewers called it "thorough and objective" (Choice) and "useful both for reference and course work ... user-friendly ... The authors have filled many gaps left by the standard histories of Zionism."
Baksheesh Diplomacy: Secret Negotiations Between American Jewish Leaders and Arab Officials on the Eve of World War II, was published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2001. Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...
's reviewer called it:
"a splendid exemplar of scholarship ... equally suitable for academicians and the general public ... Medoff deserves praise for elucidating with great charm and authenticity the doomed efforts of an important segment of American Jewry to rescue persecuted European Jews and avert Arab-Israel conflict.
His next book Militant Zionism in America: The Rise and Impact of the Jabotinsky Movement in the United States, 1926-1948, published by the University of Alabama Press
University of Alabama Press
The University of Alabama Press was founded in 1945 and is the scholarly publishing arm of the University of Alabama.An Editorial Board composed of representatives from all doctoral degree granting public universities within Alabama oversees the publishing program. Projects are selected that...
in 2002. Middle East Quarterly
Middle East Quarterly
Middle East Quarterly is a peer reviewed quarterly journal, a publication of the American conservative think tank Middle East Forum founded by Daniel Pipes in 1994. It is devoted to subjects relating to the Middle East and Islam and analyzes the region "explicitly from the viewpoint of American...
's reviewer wrote:
"Militant Zionism in America has the freshness and immediacy of the archival sources and interviews that massively support its argument; and it adds another cubit to the stature of one of our preeminent historians of Zionism."
Books about the Holocaust
Medoff's textbook, Jewish Americans and Political Participation: A Reference Handbook, published by ABC-CLIOABC-CLIO
ABC-CLIO is a publisher of reference works for the study of history and social studies in academic, secondary school, and public library settings.-History:...
in 2002, was named an "Outstanding Academic Title of 2002" by the American Library Association
American Library Association
The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
's Choice Magazine
Choice magazine
CHOICE Magazine is a publication of the Australian Consumers' Association, a non-profit organisation founded in 1959 to research and advocate on behalf of Australian consumers. The organisation trades as CHOICE and is similar to Consumer Reports in the United States...
.
Medoff and David S. Wyman in 2002 coauthored the first scholarly study of the Holocaust rescue activists known as the Bergson Group, A Race Against Death: Peter Bergson, America, and the Holocaust, published by The New Press. In The New Republic, Dr. Michael Oren (today Israel's ambassador to the United States) called A Race Against Death "an important book [by] veteran chroniclers of America's shameful inaction during the Holocaust." The Jerusalem Post hailed it as "a must-read for Jewish leaders the world over, as well as for committed Jews and anyone interested in the response of American Jewry to the Holocaust." In response to the publication of A Race Against Death, officials of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, in Washington, D.C., announced that they would add materials about the Bergson Group to20the museum's permanent exhibit.
In The Deafening Silence, Medoff argues that had American Jewish leaders been more forceful in presenting the case for rescue of European Jews to the Roosevelt administration, they could have moved the administration to act. In Deborah Lipstadt
Deborah Lipstadt
Deborah Esther Lipstadt, Ph.D. is an American historian and author of the book Denying the Holocaust and The Eichmann Trial. She is the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies at Emory University...
's review of Holocaust literature, she engages Medoff's argument, but concludes that "There is nothing on record to indicate that their outspoken support would have changed the mind of restrictionist legislators."
Together with former New York City Mayor Edward I. Koch, Medoff in 2008 coauthored The Koch Papers: My Fight Against Anti-Semitism, published by Palgrave MacMillan. It was named to the New York Post's "Required Reading" list. The Forward wrote: "The legendary former New York City mayor has never been shy about standing up for his fellow Jews. The hallmark of Koch's approach to this issue, as his book demonstrates, is a determination to confront bigotry--with steadfastness and an insistent sense of urgency."
Also in 2008, Purdue University Press
Purdue University Press
Purdue University Press, founded in 1960, is a university press that is part of Purdue University. Dedicated to the dissemination of scholarly and professional information, Purdue University Press provides quality resources in several key subject areas including business, technology, health,...
published his book Blowing the Whistle on Genocide: Josiah E. DuBois, Jr. and the Struggle for a U.S. Response to the Holocaust. The National Jewish Post and Opinion wrote: "Blowing the Whistle on Genocide brings to life an inspiring but little-known chapter of Holocaust history."
Essays
In 2008, Medoff authored "Rav Chesed: The Life and Times of Haskel LooksteinHaskel Lookstein
Rabbi Haskel Lookstein is an American Modern Orthodox Rabbi who serves as the spiritual leader of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and principal of the Ramaz School.-Early years:...
", a lengthy biographical essay published as a paperback by Ktav. Subsequently an updated version of that book was included in the two-volume Rav Chesed: Essays in Honor of Rabbi Dr. Haskel Lookstein, which Medoff edited, and was published by Ktav in 2009.
He authored installments of American Jewish Historical Society
American Jewish Historical Society
The American Jewish Historical Society was founded in 1892 with the mission to foster awareness and appreciation of the American Jewish heritage and to serve as a national scholarly resource for research through the collection, preservation and dissemination of materials relating to American...
's "Chapters in American Jewish History" series, and served as associate book review editor (1999–2001) and then associate editor (2002–2006) of its scholarly journal, American Jewish History.
Medoff's essays have appeared in various scholarly journals, including Studies in Zionism, Holocaust and Genocide Studies
Holocaust and Genocide Studies
Holocaust and Genocide Studies is an international peer-reviewed academic journal addressing the issue of the Holocaust and other genocides. It has been published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum since 1987 with varying frequency . The journal's...
, the Journal of Genocide Research
Journal of Genocide Research
The Journal of Genocide Research ' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that covers the field of genocide studies. Subject areas include: Peace and conflict studies, Human rights, international relations, security policies, conflict resolution, holocaust studies, history and international law.The...
, American Jewish History
American Jewish History
American Jewish History is an academic journal and the official publication of the American Jewish Historical Society. The journal was established in 1892 and focuses on all aspects of the American Jewish experience including discussions of culture, religion, and politics...
, and American Jewish Archives. He also served as guest editor for the autumn 2004 issue of the Journal of Ecumenical Studies.
He authored the essay "New Yorkers and the Birth of Israel", which was featured in the May 1998 New York Times supplement commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of Israel.
Dr. Medoff has also published op-eds concerning the Holocaust and related issues in such newspapers as the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, the Baltimore Sun, the Detroit Free Press
Detroit Free Press
The Detroit Free Press is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, USA. The Sunday edition is entitled the Sunday Free Press. It is sometimes informally referred to as the "Freep"...
, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the New York Sun
New York Sun
The New York Sun was a weekday daily newspaper published in New York City from 2002 to 2008. When it debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of an otherwise unrelated earlier New York paper, The Sun , it became the first general-interest broadsheet newspaper to be started...
, Ha'aretz, the Jerusalem Report, the Jerusalem Post, and Germany's largest daily newspaper, Süddeutsche Zeitung
Süddeutsche Zeitung
The Süddeutsche Zeitung , published in Munich, is the largest German national subscription daily newspaper.-Profile:The title literally translates as "South German Newspaper". It is read throughout Germany by 1.1 million readers daily and boasts a relatively high circulation abroad...
.
Encyclopedia articles
He has authored entries for numerous encyclopedias and reference books, including the Encyclopaedia JudaicaEncyclopaedia Judaica
The Encyclopaedia Judaica is a 26-volume English-language encyclopedia of the Jewish people and their faith, Judaism. It covers diverse areas of the Jewish world and civilization, including Jewish history of all eras, culture, holidays, language, scripture, and religious teachings...
, the Encyclopedia of the Diaspora, the Encyclopedia of American Jewish History, the Columbia History of the Jewish People in America, American National Biography
American National Biography
The American National Biography is a 24 volume biographical encyclopedia set containing approximately 17,400 entries and 20 million words, first published in 1999 by Oxford University Press under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies. A 400-entry supplement appeared in 2002...
, the Global Encyclopedia of Historical Writing, and Jewish Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia.
Cartoons and comics
Reflecting his interest in the use of cutting-edge media to teach about the Holocaust, Medoff collaborated with comic book artist Neal AdamsNeal Adams
Neal Adams is an American comic book and commercial artist known for helping to create some of the definitive modern imagery of the DC Comics characters Superman, Batman, and Green Arrow; as the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates; and as a creators-rights advocate who...
on a comic book about the experiences of Dina Gottliebova Babbitt, a Holocaust survivor who attempted to regain paintings she did for Josef Mengele
Josef Mengele
Josef Rudolf Mengele , also known as the Angel of Death was a German SS officer and a physician in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. He earned doctorates in anthropology from Munich University and in medicine from Frankfurt University...
in order to survive in Auschwitz. It was published in X-Men: Magneto: Testimony #5, in early 2009. On the seventieth anniversary of the voyage of the refugee ship St. Louis, Medoff collaborated with Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
-winning cartoonist Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman is an American comics artist, editor, and advocate for the medium of comics, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning comic book memoir, Maus. His works are published with his name in lowercase: art spiegelman.-Biography:Spiegelman was born in Stockholm, Sweden, to Polish Jews...
on a full-page cartoon history of the voyage, published in the Washington Post in June 2009. Medoff also teamed up with comic book artist Sal Amendola
Sal Amendola
Sal Amendola is an Italian-American comic book artist and teacher primarily known for his association with DC Comics.-Career:...
on a full-page political cartoon about U.S. athletes who boycotted the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which appeared in The New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
in August 2008. In addition, Medoff served as a consultant to Homeland, a graphic novel telling the history of Israel's creation, by comic book veterans Marv Wolfman
Marv Wolfman
Marvin A. "Marv" Wolfman is an award-winning American comic book writer. He is best known for lengthy runs on The Tomb of Dracula, creating Blade for Marvel Comics, and The New Teen Titans for DC Comics.-1960s:...
and Mario Ruiz.
In 2010, Medoff and comics creator Neal Adams
Neal Adams
Neal Adams is an American comic book and commercial artist known for helping to create some of the definitive modern imagery of the DC Comics characters Superman, Batman, and Green Arrow; as the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates; and as a creators-rights advocate who...
teamed with Disney Educational Productions to produce They Spoke Out: American Voices Against the Holocaust, an online educational motion comics series that tells stories of Americans who protested Nazis or helped rescue Jews during the Holocaust. Each standalone episode, which runs from five to ten minutes, utilizes a combination of archival film footage and animatics, and focus on a different person. The first episode, "La Guardia's War Against Hitler" was screened in April 2010 at a festival sponsored by the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art
Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art
The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art is an American not-for-profit arts organization devoted to the production and history of comic books, comic strips and other forms of cartoon art. Located at 594 Broadway in New York City, MoCCA was founded by Lawrence Klein in October 2001.In 2007, MoCCA hired...
, and tells the story of the forceful stand New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia took against Nazi Germany, in contrast to that of President Franklin Roosevelt, whom most historians feel did not do all he could have to save European Jews, a point underlined in the episode "Messenger from Hell". Other episodes include "Voyage of the Doomed", which focuses on the S.S. St. Louis, the ship that carried more than 900 German-Jewish refugees but was turned away by Cuban authorities and later the Roosevelt administration, and "Rescue Over the Mountains", which depicts Vivian Fry, the young journalist who led an underground rescue network that smuggled Jewish refugees out of Vichy, France.
Medoff has served as a consultant to a number of television and movie projects, including Holocaust: The Untold Story, (Freedom Forum Television Network / Newseum TV), which was broadcast on The History Channel
The History Channel
History, formerly known as The History Channel, is an American-based international satellite and cable TV channel that broadcasts a variety of reality shows and documentary programs including those of fictional and non-fictional historical content, together with speculation about the future.-...
in 2001 and nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Television Documentary; Against the Tide, produced by the Simon Wiesenthal Center
Simon Wiesenthal Center
The Simon Wiesenthal Center , with headquarters in Los Angeles, California, was established in 1977 and named for Simon Wiesenthal, the Nazi hunter. According to its mission statement, it is "an international Jewish human rights organization dedicated to repairing the world one step at a time...
's Moriah Films; In Our Own Hands: The Hidden Story of the Jewish Brigade in World War II; and Looking into the Face of Evil, produced by the Ohio Council on Holocaust Education; as well as programs concerning the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, for Israel Television and Italian National Television.