Mandy Patinkin to Return to "Exile"

Mandy Patinkin will return in 2024 to narrate twelve new stories of Jewish lives in the shadow of fascism. The continuation of LBI’s award-winning podcast, Exile, is funded, in part, by a grant from the Claims Conference. LBI also added two new productions to its audio offerings: a German-language translation of Exile featuring German actress Iris Berben and a series of conversations with journalist Mark Oppenheimer called LBI Presents.

The Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin is pleased to announce that production is underway on new episodes of Exile, the podcast series of audio documentaries in which Emmy and Tony Award-winning actor and activist Mandy Patinkin tell the true stories of German-speaking Jews preserved in the LBI Archives, aided by voice actors reading primary sources and interviews with scholars, descendants, and witnesses.

This represents a continuation of the format that already garnered two Signal Awards in 2023: one Silver in the General Documentary Category for “Love in the Time of Exile” and one Gold in the General History Category for “From Refugee to Radical.”

Speaking at the Center for Jewish History in New York on October 24, 2023, Patinkin called his work on Exile “an extraordinary gift [..] to participate in this celebration of our heritage.” Patinkin and his partner Kathryn Grody attended the LBI’s annual gala, where they were honored with the Leo Baeck Medal in recognition of their years of activism on behalf of refugees and in support of democracy.

Exile is a co-production with the award-winning Canadian firm Antica. We are pleased to announce that the production of these new episodes is made possible by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Finance and the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future.

Claims Conference Executive Vice President Greg Schneider stated, “The Claims Conference is proud to support the Leo Baeck Institute’s podcast, Exile, narrated by Mandy Patinkin. Together they are bringing to life firsthand accounts of Jews living under the repression of the Nazi regime through stories that are engrossing, engaging and heartbreaking. We need to hear the stories in these dark times, both as cautionary tales and for the inspiration that comes from the heroes, the survivors, those who were oppressed and those we lost.”

A premiere date for the twelve new episodes will be announced in 2024.

www.lbi.org/exile

The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) represents world Jewry in negotiating for compensation and restitution for victims of Nazi persecution and their heirs. Among its activities, the Claims Conference administers compensation funds, funds social welfare services, and allocates funds to preserve the memory and lessons of the Shoah. For more information, please visit www.claimscon.org.

The EVZ Foundation's mission is to keep alive the memory of the injustices of National Socialist persecution, to assume the resulting responsibility in the present, and to actively shape the future. The Foundation's central purpose when established in 2000 was to pay humanitarian compensation to former forced laborers under the National Socialist regime - a milestone in Germany's efforts to come to terms with the past. Nowadays, within the fields of activity Education and Action, the Foundation funds projects and activities that support the survivors of National Socialist persecution, international understanding and the strengthening of human rights. For more information, please visit https://www.stiftung-evz.de/en/.