The Martin-Springer Institute brings the experiences of the Holocaust into sharp focus in order to understand those events in the context of today’s concerns and crises. Through public presentations, exhibits, teacher training, symposia and special events, we seek to use insights and lessons from the past to address current conflicts—including the treatment of refugees, mass violence, and genocide.
Our programs promote the values of moral courage, tolerance, empathy, reconciliation, and justice. Founded by Ralph and Doris Martin, the Institute fosters dialogue on local, national, and international levels.
Contact: bjorn.krondorfer@nau.edu
The Holocaust seems long ago and far away. And yet, fragments of the lives it destroyed and affected can be found even in remote corners of Arizona. How and why did paintings by a Jewish-born artist from the Italian port city of Trieste, who converted to Catholicism but died in a Nazi concentration camp, end up in Cottonwood? After being approached by a Sedona resident, Patricia Mongini, who is the caretaker of a Cottonwood estate that includes a large collection of paintings by Gino Parin, multiple faculty-student groups from Northern Arizona University, under the mentorship of Björn Krondorfer (Director, Martin-Springer Institute) and Alexandra Carpino (Professor of Art History, Department of Comparative Cultural Studies), began to unpack his story, discovering a life of nuances and complications during the first half of the twentieth century.
The research findings were first incorporated into dialogical narratives for a nine-episode podcast series. This was followed by an exhibition at NAU’s Clara M. Lovett Art Museum (February 28-April 28, 2023) featuring paintings, drawings, and related materials from the collection of Necki Springer, a family friend of Parin’s, who immigrated to the United States and eventually settled in Cottonwood.
Research and Exhibit Design:
Faculty Mentors:
Björn Krondorfer and Alexandra Carpino, with the assistance of John Barruzza (MSI post-doc, 2020)
Students:
Alyssa Icke, Ephraim Moore, Alexis Nelson, Naomi Sanders, and Elizabeth White
Podcast Recording:
Faculty Mentors:
Björn Krondorfer, Alexandra Carpino, and Rebecca Whitehurst
Students:
Alexander Furash, Mandolin Meilbeck, and Kailyn Woodie
Recording:
Wyatt Lanford
Digital Exhibit:
Faculty Mentors:
Björn Krondorfer and Alexandra Carpino
Students:
Preston Channer and Joce Dolezal
Special thanks to Elisabeth Anthony, Melissa Cohen, Amy Dryden, Rev. David Kelash, Christine LaBastille, Ty Miller,
Patricia Mongini, Steven Moeckel, Brian Rackham, and Josh Terronez
Deep gratitude for financial support from Patricia Mongini
