Educator, author, champion of equal opportunity for women, and a human-rights advocate whose passion was forged by her experiences in the Holocaust and by surviving the Auschwitz-Birkenau and Hessisch-Lichtenau concentration camps, Judith Magyar Isaacson ’65, LL.D. ’94, died on Nov. 10 at age 90.

In 2006, Judith Magyar Isaacson ’65 signs her memoir “Seed of Sarah” after a class about the Holocaust taught by former �ֲ���ý professor Steve Hochstadt. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

She earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics at �ֲ���ý in 1965 and a master’s in mathematics at Bowdoin two years later. She taught math at Lewiston High School and then at �ֲ���ý, where she became the dean of women in 1969 and dean of students in 1975. She retired in August 1978.

As dean, she was instrumental in ending the college’s unequal and antiquated codes of social conduct for men and women and in increasing extracurricular and athletic opportunities for female students.

In 1976, after discussing her Holocaust experiences with a group of students, Isaacson was moved to record those memories. Published in 1990, her memoir Seed of Sarah: Memoirs of a Survivor is an enduring inspiration of courage and resilience for young women and men.

‘Inextinguishable force of human worth’

Isaacson received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree at Commencement 1994, and the degree citation read, in part:

To remember vividly, so that none can forget — to say the unspeakable, so that all can hear — takes a voice of courage, power, and eloquence. Your strengths, Judith Isaacson, touch the lives of not only your family and your colleagues but those countless others who read in your personal and professional life the inextinguishable force of human worth.

For preserving, for giving testimony, for helping us to understand, and for the encouragement of conviction, we stand in admiration and resolve.

Judith Isaacson receives the honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 1994. (�ֲ���ý Communications)

‘I fought pretty hard for women’

In 2004, Kirsten Terry Murphy ’07 wrote a story for The �ֲ���ý Student about Isaacson’s induction into the Maine Women’s Hall of Fame.

Murphy wrote about Isaacson’s work as dean to dismantle the college’s notoriously unequal social rules that literally ran many pages for  women and a few pages for men:

Isaacson could see that many of the codes of conduct at �ֲ���ý were outdated, and quickly became an advocate for women’s rights at the school. She had children of her own in college at that point, and from their experiences she found that, comparatively, the policies at �ֲ���ý were very different. “Young, 18-year-old women had far more freedoms at home than at �ֲ���ý,” explained Isaacson….

Isaacson resolved other important complaints from students. One concerned the issue of parietals. Previously, men and women did not have permission to enter dorms of the opposite sex, but she changed campus-housing rules to allow visitations. Another problem surrounded sports. “I fought pretty hard for women to have athletic privileges,” she said.

Judith Isaacson talks with members of the Women’s Council in 1970, the start of changes that would make �ֲ���ý social life more equal for women. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)

‘How many times have I started anew?’

Isaacson retired from �ֲ���ý in 1978. Shortly afterward, she wrote an essay about that final Commencement as dean of students and about her uncertain, but growing, idea of writing her memoirs, which would become Seed of Sarah.

The essay recalls the academic procession, led by President Hedley Reynolds, who

….carries his presidential paraphernalia with great dignity, his head held high, his steps springy. I am proud to be following just behind him, but still incredulous of my position. What right have I, the ultimate outsider, to be playing this venerable role?

My mind, that relentless time machine, projects a different image. Instead of stepping along the carpeted aisle in my academic gown, cap and hood, I see myself marching in a mile-long procession, at Auschwitz-Birkenau, stark naked….

This is my next-to-last official function at the College. After tomorrow’s Commencement, I’ll be embarking on a new venture, just like the seniors.

How many times have I started anew? I muse, as my eyes follow the members of the Class of 1977 making their solemn way to the front pews. How many different identities have I had?

Judit Magyar — a family name meaning Hungarian.
Jewish teenager under the Nazi regime.
Number 561.20578 in concentration camps.
Frau Hauptman, American captain’s wife in Germany.
Mrs. Irving Isaacson, lawyer’s wife in Lewiston, Maine.
Mom, to my children.
Judy, to my classmates.
Mrs. Isaacson, to my math students.
Dean Isaacson for the past eight years.
Will Grammi be next? Here is hoping.

Irving Isaacson ’36 and Judith Isaacson met after her liberation by American troops in 1945. Married on Dec. 24, 1945, they were photographed in 2000 by Phyllis Graber Jensen.

‘A warm and humorous optimist’

Historian Steve Hochstadt, a Holocaust scholar who taught at �ֲ���ý from 1979 to 2006, had a long friendship with Isaacson that included a classroom relationship.

Each year that he taught his course on the Holocaust, she would visit.

“It’s very important for Holocaust students to meet a survivor,” said Hochstadt in 2006.  “And �ֲ���ý students get to see what kind of survivor Judith is: a warm and humorous optimist.”

Hochstadt tells the that Isaacson “was an extraordinarily joyous person who could tell you about very sad things that happened to her, her relatives and her friends, but who was able to retain joy in life.”

Hochstadt that Isaacson and Seed of Sarah expanded the narrative of the Holocaust to include women.

Speaking to 125 students in the Filene lecture hall, Hochstadt tells the Sun Journal, “she was so relaxed, so happy to be there, so confident.”

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

‘All who live, rejoice, rejoice’

Katalin Vecsey, a senior lecturer in the �ֲ���ý theater department, was born in Hungary, as was Isaacson.

Isaacson, she said, became her “Hungarian mother in the United States.”

Seed of Sarah begins with this quote by a Hungarian poet, Endre Ady: “All who live, rejoice, rejoice.”

“I think that totally sums up her life,” Vecsey tells the Press Herald. “She really was so grateful to be alive and she shared that joy with everybody.”

Kati Vecsey and Judith Isaacson, photographed in 2009 by Phyllis Graber Jensen.

Katalin Vecsey, a member of the �ֲ���ý College theater faculty, reads from the writings of Holocaust survivor Judith Magyar Isaacson ’65 in a free public event.

Selections from Isaacson’s book Seed of Sarah: Memoirs of a Survivor, as well as a forthcoming sequel, soon to be published by Hentrich & Hentrich, of Berlin, will be presented by Vecsey.

• Callahan Hall at the Lewiston Public Library
• Thursday, Feb. 12, at 7 p.m.

Isaacson, a native of Hungary and a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz-Birkenau and Hessisch Lichtenau (a Buchenwald satellite camp), is known nationally for “Seed of Sarah” and for the work in human rights education she has done in light of her World War II experiences.

Sharon H. Abrams, longtime executive director of the Maine Children’s Home for Little Wanderers, in Waterville, is the other Maine woman to be honored during the hall’s 15th induction ceremony, scheduled for March 20 in Jewett Hall, University of Maine at Augusta. The event is held every March to coincide with Women’s History Month.

A Silver Tea honoring the inductees will be held at 2 p.m. Contributions will be accepted for a scholarship program run by the Maine Federation of Business & Professional Women, which co-sponsors the Hall of Fame with the Futurama Foundation and the university. The U.S. Postal Service will also hold a special stamp cancellation for the Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony for Abrams and Isaacson will follow.

As a Holocaust survivor, Judith Magyar Isaacson has built an exceptional human rights advocacy upon her experiences as a witness of genocide. Seed of Sarah (University of Illinois Press, 1991) has been acclaimed for its feminist perspective on the Nazi atrocities, and Isaccson has lectured widely on the Holocaust, civil liberties and equal rights.

Isaacson advanced equal rights for women at two influential educational institutions in Maine. As dean of women and dean of students at �ֲ���ý from 1969 to 1977, she was instrumental in ending discriminatory practices – eliminating, for example, separate and unequal codes of conduct for men and women. (In the college’s in the 1969-70 student handbook, two pages of rules applied to men vs. eight for women.) She continued to support women’s rights as a member of the Bowdoin College Board of Overseers from 1984 to 1996.

Isaacson’s book has been a best seller for the University of Illinois Press and for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Still in print, Seed of Sarah has appeared in German and Hungarian translations and was adapted by Maine composer Mark Polishook for an opera and subsequent film that is now in international distribution.

Isaacson received the prestigious Hargraves Preservation of Freedom Prize, established at Bowdoin College to stimulate appreciation of Constitutional rights and freedoms; and the Deborah Morton Award from Westbrook College, now University of New England, presented to women who have achieved high distinction in career and service or shown exceptional leadership in public life.

Isaacson graduated from �ֲ���ý College in 1965 with a bachelor’s in mathematics, and earned a master’s in mathematics from Bowdoin. She holds honorary doctorates from �ֲ���ý, Colby College and the University of New England. She and her husband, attorney Irving Isaacson, reside in Auburn. They have three children and seven grandchildren.

Sharon H. Abrams has been executive director of the Maine Children’s Home for Little Wanderers (MCH) since 1992, and previously taught in, then directed, MCH’s Teen Parent School Program. The Home, a statewide nonprofit whose mission is to “build and strengthen families and their children,” celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1999.

The Maine Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs established the Maine Women’s Hall of Fame in 1990, to honor women who have made an outstanding contribution to improving opportunities for all Maine women.

The three criteria for induction are, first, that the woman’s achievements have had a statewide impact; second, that her achievements have significantly improved the lives of women in Maine; and third, that her contribution has enduring value for women. Nominations for induction are reviewed by an independent panel of judges.

For more information about the Maine Women’s Hall of Fame, contact Sally Ann Parks, chair, at 207-453-6004 or P.O. Box 84, Hinckley ME 04944.

The Jewish community of Luboml, dating from the 14th century, was among the oldest in Poland. By the 1930s, Libivne (as it was called in Yiddish), had a vibrant community of 4,000 Jews. The years between the first and second World Wars were a period of great cultural ferment in this shtetl (village).

While the family and traditional religious institutions continued to play a central role, they were joined, and sometimes challenged, by modern intellectual attitudes, styles of dress and other secular influences — particularly Zionism — which increasingly influenced this corner of Eastern Europe.

Jewish life in Luboml came to an abrupt end in October 1942, when the Germans murdered almost all of the town’s Jews. Only 51 Libivners (excluding those who had emigrated before the war) survived the Holocaust.

In 1994, Aaron Ziegelman, a Libivner who emigrated to the United States in 1938, initiated the Luboml Exhibition Project to preserve the history and the memory of the “shtetl.” To date, the project has collected nearly 2,000 photographs and artifacts from more than 100 families and archives around the world, and has videotaped oral histories with many Libivners. Remembering Luboml features highlights from the collection.

A native of Hungary and an Auburn resident, Isaacson is a survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau and of Hessisch Lichtenau, a satellite camp of Buchenwald. Her book, Seed of Sarah: Memoirs of a Survivor (University of Illinois Press, 1990), has been a best seller for both the press and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum bookstore.

An expanded edition and a German edition of the book were published in 1991, followed by a Hungarian edition in 1993. The chamber opera Seed of Sarah, composed by Mark Polishook, premiered in 1995. A film based on the opera will be released by a London producer later this year.

Isaacson served on the governing boards at Bowdoin College and recently received its Hargraves Freedom Prize. She holds honorary doctoral degrees from �ֲ���ý and Colby colleges and the University of New England.

Isaacson’s talk is part of the �ֲ���ý College lecture series Spiritual Journeys: Stories of the Soul featuring individuals who represent a variety of religious traditions, disciplines and professions. The photography exhibit is sponsored by the Office of the College Chaplain, the college’s Jewish Cultural Community and the �ֲ���ý history department.

Ladd Library hours fom April 5 through April 25 are are Monday through Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 1 a.m.; Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m; and Sunday 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Hours from April 26 through the end of the month of May are Monday through Thursday 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday noon to 8 p.m.; and Sunday noon to 10 p.m. Summer hours, beginning June 1, are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. The library is closed Saturdays and Sundays during the summer.

Sponsored by the Office of the Chaplain at �ֲ���ý, the Spiritual Journeys lecture series features speakers from a variety of traditions who tell the stories of their spiritual awakening and development. Speakers are invited to explore how they experience a sense of the holy in their everyday lives, how their perspectives and disciplines have shaped that sacred experience, and how they understand religion as a resource or an obstacle to the life of the soul. Speakers may also address what the political and social consequences of their spirituality.

Maine Remembers the Shoah will examine the Holocaust as an historical crisis and as a continuing influence in contemporary life. “The program is designed to present new material, to stimulate discussion, and to prepare teachers and students to teach and learn about the Holocaust,” said conference organizer Steve Hochstadt, associate professor of history at �ֲ���ý. Hochstadt teaches a Holocaust course at �ֲ���ý.

The conference includes presentations of new research, personal memories of survivors, readings of prose, poetry, film and slide showings, and displays of teaching materials.

The conference will feature the world premiere on of the video You Ask about the Family, an interpretation of the Holocaust by Maine artist Robert Katz and Maine composer Mark Polishook, at 7 p.m. March 1 in Room 204 of the Carnegie Science Center. The video is based on Katz and Polishook’s trip to Poland to research the fate of their families.

Initially inspired by a letter Katz received from a distant relative who survived the Holocaust, You Asked about the Family fuses visual imagery, sound and narrative to address on one hand, the social climate in which the brutalities of the Holocaust occurred, and, on the other, cultural continuity, rebirth, and survival in the aftermath of the Holocaust.

The conference will also feature Judith Magyar Isaacson, �ֲ���ý class of ’65 and author of the acclaimed autobiographical Holocaust memoir Seed of Sarah, reading from a work-in-progress about the Holocaust at 8:30 p.m Feb. 28, in Chase Hall Lounge.

Other sessions of interest include Steven R. Cerf, the Skolfield Professor of German at Bowdoin College discussing Anne Frank’s Short Stories: Imaginative Writing as a Mirror of Interiority, at 9 a.m., March 1, and Marcus C. Bruce, associate professor of religion at �ֲ���ý College, talking about My People: Steven Spielberg, ‘Schindler’s List,’ and the Holocaust, at 11:15 a.m., March 1. Both presentations will be in Room 204 of Carnegie Science Hall.

Maine Remembers the Shoah is jointly sponsored by the departments of history, philosophy and religion at �ֲ���ý, as well as the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine, the Dimmer-Bergstrom Fund and the Maine Humanities Council.