MEDIATED LIVES: The Family Historian with Dena Rueb Romero and Richard Neugass

Richard Neugass and Dena Rueb Romero will discuss two family histories touched by the Holocaust and the roll of family historians in keeping the archive alive. How does media promote memory and what are the potential pitfalls?

After her father’s death, Dena Rueb Romero accidentally discovered a box of letters at her parents’ home. The letters dated back to 1938. These letter illuminated for Dena her parents’ lives during the war and filled in gaps of information that had haunted her childhood. Romero uses both family documents and historical research to flesh out her parents’ moving love story, the growing hostilities toward the German Jewish population, her grandparents’ increasing desperation, and her father’s hard work to help his loved ones escape Nazi Germany in her debut book, All for You. 

Painters tell stories about their subjects through pictures. Richard tells stories about his subjects by recording and preserving a dialogue about their life adventures. Turning his focus inward toward his own family history, Richard excavates the incredible story of his father, Herman Neugass, the ‘Human Bullet’—an American Jewish sprinter who famously chose to boycott the 1936 Olympic trials in protest against Nazi antisemitism.

About DENA RUEB ROMERO

Dena Rueb Romero grew up and lives in Hanover, New Hampshire. She graduated from Brandeis University and received an MA in English from the University of Virginia and an MSW from Boston College Graduate School of Social Work. Her essay about German citizenship was published in a book about reclaiming German citizenship.  All for You is her first full-length book. Dena sings in a women’s chorus, volunteers at a daycare center, and works with an organization supporting refugees and asylum seekers.

About RICHARD NEUGASS

Richard developed a business offering “video memoir” to individuals and families. Preparing subject(s) on how to approach their life stories and then videotaping them as they presented those stories is his forte.  In undergraduate studies at Amherst College he majored in political science and learned that history is what cultures believe about the stories.  After retiring Richard became an active volunteer with OSHER@Dartmouth, an organization dedicated to providing lifelong learning opportunities.

ABOUT MEDIATED LIVES