About the bloggers…
Gert Krell
A retired professor of international relations from the Goethe-University in Frankfurt/Main, German, Dr. Gert Krell was a director of research and also the executive director at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF). He briefly served as the assistant director for regional security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London. Gert writes scholarly articles and is working on a book on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Born in Darmstadt in 1945, Gert studied English, history and political science at Marburg and Frankfurt/Main, received his Ph.D. from Frankfurt University in 1976 and his Venia Legendi (authorization to teach at a university) in International Relations from Giessen University in 1984. For more information, please visit: www.gert-krell.de
Fern Schumer Chapman
Author Fern Schumer Chapman is an accomplished journalist and former reporter for the Chicago Tribune and Forbes. Her work also has appeared in The Washington Post, U.S. News & World Report, Fortune, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Fern also has a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She has taught magazine writing and other seminars at both Northwestern and Lake Forest College.
A National Jewish Book Awards finalist, Motherland – Beyond the Holocaust: A Mother-Daughter Journey to Reclaim the Past, was published by Viking/Penguin (2000). Feature film rights are optioned and the book was named a Barnes & Noble “Discover New Great Writers” title. Motherland also was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show and has been published in Germany and the Netherlands. Ms. Chapman’s second book will be released in March 2010. Is It Night or Day? captures Edith’s immigration experience to America. Edith (Fern’s mother) was part of a small, little-known American rescue operation that saved about 1,000 children from the Nazis. Edith came to this country without her parents when she was only 12 years old.
Fern writes another blog called “Half-life: A blog about immigration, loss and legacy.” Read it at halflifeblog.com or visit her website at www.fernschumerchapman.com.