ABOUT THE SPEAKER

FEES & RESERVATIONS

PREVIOUS ENGAGEMENTS

CONTACT

LAST SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT: June 7, 2008 at 2 pm.
TOPIC: "Persecution of the Homosexual Community during the Nazi era--- a historical look through a personal family lens."
At the New York City Public Library - International Resource Center
Flushing Library, 41-17 Main Street, 3rd Floor, Flushing NY 11355
Near the Number 7 subway line to the Flushing stop.

DOES YOUR SYNAGOGUE, CHURCH, COLLEGE OR COMMUNITY GROUP NEED A SPEAKER FOR A SPECIAL PROGRAM?

LIST OF SAMPLE TOPICS FOR THE SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT

JEWISH - HOLOCAUST - GAY - GERMAN

• Kristallnacht, November 9, 1938 -70 years ago my father and grandfather were sent to Dachau for being Jewish. You can hear a minute by minute account of the day relating the events from a personal family perspective. My father (18 years old at the time) and my grandfather went to sleep in their apartment on the night of November 9th and by the night of November 10th they were sleeping in Dachau. Their lawyer was beaten to death at the entrance to Dachau.
  
  
• Jewish and Gay and German-Growing up as a baby boomer gay son of two German Holocaust Survivors where being Jewish or gay or German was not an easy thing to be. My family ate Lebkuchen for Chanukah instead of Latkes. The two cultures and national histories were interwoven in my family and culminated with my deciding to become a dual citizen.
  
  
• The Homosexual Community during the Third Reich- Discussions of what happened to the homosexual community under the expanded Paragraph 175 during the Nazi era (inside Germany and the other occupied countries) and afterwards from the perspective of a gay son of Holocaust Survivors. Includes a time line of how this persecution aided in the formation of the Holocaust and how the historical facts are still being uncovered. It gives a comprehensive approach to learning the Holocaust showing how the Aryan philosophy was used to persecute other victim groups in various ways culminating into the Nazi killing machine murdering six million Jews and others. The talk ends with the creation of the International Association of Lesbian and Children of Holocaust Survivors and the struggle to get the NYC Sheepshead Bay Holocaust Memorial Park to inscribe the marker relating the history of the homosexual community.
  
  
  
• Jewish and Re-instating one's German citizenship-Why would a nice Jewish boy of two Holocaust Survivors want to re-instate his German citizenship? This discussion focuses on why I re-instated the rights that the Nazis removed from my family during Germany's Nazi era. I explore the historical and emotional reasons as to why I became a dual citizen.
  
  
• Early Gay and Jewish Experiences - My Hebrew School Teacher was Surprised -Arguing for Gay Marriage in 1965 before my Bar Mitzvah. I was supposed to donate a Holocaust Torah to my Hebrew School in 1965 when I was told that no two men would ever get married before a Torah. So I waited instead until CBST was created in 1973 and the Torah went there instead. This talk focuses on what it was like to be gay and Jewish in the 1960's and early 1970's.
  
  
• Being Beaten for being Gay-Starting the Gay Liberation Front at my College in Buffalo in 1970. This talk focuses on the early history of the Gay Liberation Front in Buffalo New York and how I helped to get things moving. Part of the saga does include the fact that I was beaten for this attempt at furthering one's rights.
  
  
• The Holocaust Torah Goes Back Home to Germany-Returning a Torah that survived Kristallnacht back to Munich. The Torah that I brought to CBST and was there for years, was needed back in Munich to assist a Liberal congregation grow. So in 2006 the Torah went back to the city where my great grandparents were deported to their death so that Congregation Beth Shalom can now have its own Torah.
  
  
  
• What are the Chances?-How my father was both an 18 year old Jewish German inmate in Dachau in 1938 and then a 25 year old American soldier liberating Dachau and his hometown of Augsburg. This story involves all of the chance coincidences that permitted my family to get visas to come to America and how as enemy aliens they survived in London and New York during the war.
  
  
• Baby Boomers-Still harboring feelings of wanting to fix the world. This talk focuses on the left over feelings of the 1960's flower children and how they still want to fix the world.
  
  
• Lebkuchen for Chanukah - Growing up in New York with German parents after WW II. This talk focuses on life in Washington Heights and Queens after World War II and what it was like being of German descent living in a Jewish neighborhood.
  
  

This is the photo of my grandparent's wedding in Germany. It not only shows the difference between my Orthodox East European greatgrandparents sitting the front row, but the actual faces of so many Jews who died in the Holocaust.

There is the story of how my greatgrandparents left Galicia to flee to safety in Munich around the turn of the 20th Century, to how some of these people's children survived through the Kindertransport to England. How the good deeds of some would save the lives of others many years later.








DOES YOUR COLLEGE, CIVIC ASSOCIATION OR COMMUNITY BOARD NEED A SPEAKER/PROFESSOR TO EXPLORE A LAND-USE ISSUE?
LIST OF SAMPLE TOPICS FOR THE SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT


URBAN PLANNING - ZONING - OR 9/11 WORLD TRADE CENTER EXPERIENCE TALK?

LIVING 1,000 FEET FROM THE WORLD TRADE CENTER- Before and after 9/11, from being displaced and coping with the tragedy of our times. The minute by minute account of what it was like from waking up to a beautiful sunny day to going to sleep on the floor of one's office. Then having to cope with the realities of having your neighborhood devastated and working your way back to a cleaned up home.






• ZONING STARTS IN LOWER MANHATTAN- Topics include the history and impact of Zoning on America.
  
  
• NEW AMSTERDAM- Along with a walking tour, the topic of religious freedom and taxation and other Dutch impacts on American life.
  
  
• LAND USE LAW- Topics include urban renewal, eminent domain, landmarking, growth management, exclusionary and inclusionary zoning, community benefit agreements, environmental impact statements, adult use zoning, etc.

Please click on any of the following articles or websites to get an idea of some of the topics

Here are some articles on the internet to give you an idea of the topics that are covered.	Stories about my father being in Dachau and then liberating Dachau.	Holocaust Torah returns to Munich.
Fag Bashing is Not New! Being beaten after starting the Gay Liberation Front in Buffalo New York.	End of Womens' Bowling at UB! How I registered for Women's Bowling for an easier "B".	Stories of a Gay Camper Stories about going to a Jewish Summer Camp in the Catskill Mountains... on the German Jewish side of the mountains.
How I discovered Joe Dellasandro years before Andy Warhol.	A Gay Synagogue? 1999 If so many reform and reconstuctionist and even some conservative synagogues are LGBT friendly, why do we need CBST, a synagogue serving the LGBT community?	German-Jewish & Gay An essay on being German, Jewish and gay.
Living Near Ground Zero Stories about living 1,000 feet from the World Trade Center and being displaced after 9/11.	Holocaust Articles of Interest	......

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Rick Landman, a Native New Yorker, is a gay son of two Jewish Holocaust Survivors, who was born in New York City, and is now a dual citizen of Germany and America.

Present at the Rededication ceremony of the Augsburg Synagogue and accompanied his father for various speeches given in Augsburg.

Founder of the Gay Liberation Front at his college in 1970 at the University of Buffalo, and helped to organize the First Statewide March on Albany for Gay Rights in 1971 and the First Nationwide March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in 1979.

Long term active member of Congregation Beth Simchat Torah(and former member of the Board of Directors). CBST is the world's largest synagogue serving the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender community, their families and friends.

Founded the International Association of Lesbian and Gay Children of Holocaust Survivors in 1990.

Earned 3 Masters Degrees and a JD in law and specialized in real estate and urban planning for decades. He is an AICP certified planner for over 30 years and a member of the New York Bar.

Executive Director of Real Estate Development for the City of New York in 1979-1983, and the Director of Real Estate Development for New York University from 1989-2006.

Adjunct Professor for the core required graduate Land Use Law class at NYU's Wagner School for their urban planning students for six years.

Long term member of Community Board #1 Manhattan, and was the first chair of the Planning & Community Infrastructure Committee, the first chair of the Landmarks Committee when Tribeca was designated, and a chair of the Tribeca Committee.



LANGUAGES
The talks are given in English, but can be delivered in German (Deutsch).

APPEARANCE FEES
Appearance fees vary depending on the engagement. Travel and boarding expenses are extra and handled on an individual basis. Each talk is approximately one hour long, including questions and answers. Cash, Travelers Checks or NYS checks are acceptable forms of payment.

RESERVATIONS
To make a reservation, please click on the email icon below and list the following in your email. Make sure you have a written confirmation from me before considering the event confirmed:

• The time and days of your proposed event
• How many people are expected in the audience
• The topic of the talk that you are interested in hearing
• Any special interests, such as historical, cultural, religious,etc. that your group would find of interest
• Your name, phone, address and email address
• Means of payment

Talks are personalized to meet your group's special interests.

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PREVIOUS ENGAGEMENTS:
"Real Estate Development in Tribeca -- Gentrification or Destruction?"
Center for Real Estate Studies at New York Law School
Wednesday, September 26, 2007 1:00 pm B100
Rick Landman, will discuss the history of Tribeca's development over the past 30 years, balancing the desires of the long term occupants (illegal tenants or "pioneers"), developers and new residents. The discussion will include the zoning implications of the Special TMU District and Landmarking, the New York Law School deed restriction, community board proposals and real estate cycles.

Rick Landman, Esq. AICP, was the Executive Director of Real Estate Development for the City under Mayor Koch and was the Director of Real Estate Development for NYU for almost 20 years. He is a long term member of Community Board #1 having served as chair of the Landmarks Committee, Tribeca Committee and 197-a Planning Committee. He is also an adjunct professor of NYU's Wagner Schools required Land Use Law class for their graduate planning students.

"Kristallnacht- Holocaust Memorial Program"
Wednesday, November 7, 2007 FROM 7-8 p.m. at the Bronfman Center for Jewish Living 7 East 10th Street – 2nd floor

In co-sponsorship with:
The Bronfman Center for Jewish Living at NYU
The Deutsches Haus at NYU
The Henry and Lucy Moses Center for Students with Disabilities
NYU Office of LGBT Student Services
Congregation Beth Simchat Torah

In Commemoration of the 69th Anniversary of Kristallnacht, NYU will be conducting an inclusive candle lighting ceremony to memorialize the six million Jews, and all of the other victims of the Nazi era, including the disabled, homosexual, Gypsy communities, Jehovah Witnesses, and others including anti-Hitler Germans who were killed for protecting Jews and for anti-Nazi activities.

In addition, Rick Landman, a gay son and grandson of two Jewish men who were arrested and interned in Dachau on the day after Kristallnacht will make a presentation. Rick will not only relate the 24 hour history of how Kristallnacht affected his father’s life, but will also explain why he decided to reinstate German Citizenship to become a dual citizen. He is now a gay, Jewish, American son of Holocaust Survivors who is also a German citizen. The program will end with a question and answer period.

Please Click Here to Email for Reservations or and Questions

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