Episode 1: Church in Cottonwood Accordion Closed
We visit a church in Arizona and discover Gino Parin through his painting, Cristo (ca. 1942), now housed in the sacristy of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Cottonwood. Born Federico Guglielmo Jehuda Pollack in Trieste in 1876, Parin was a close friend of the Springer family, some of whom moved to the United States, bringing with them a collection of the artist’s work.
Episode 2: Città: Trieste and the Rise of Italian Fascism Accordion Closed
We travel to Gino Parin’s birthplace, Trieste, and learn more about Italian fascism. The city was a thriving Habsburg seaport in the 19th century and later the location for Benito Mussolini’s speech pronouncing Italy’s antisemitic laws in 1938.
Episode 3: Cristo (Christ) Accordion Closed
Parin’s Cristo painting in Cottonwood takes us back to Trieste. Born Jewish, the artist converted to Catholicism when he was 21. He painted many Christian subjects throughout his career, including two studies for a large altarpiece featuring Christ at a time when Trieste was under Nazi occupation (1943–1945).
Episode 4: Citizenship Accordion Closed
We unpack the concept of citizenship as it pertains to Parin, who renounced his Austrian nationality for Swiss citizenship. After World War I, when Trieste became part of Italy, Parin also adopted Italian citizenship. His Swiss citizenship should have protected him from being arrested by the German Gestapo, but in the end, he became a victim of the Holocaust.
Episode 5: Companions Accordion Closed
We look at Gino Parin’s relationships with three of the women in his life: In 1898, he married Ella Auler when they were both art students in Munich. Later, and after his divorce, he met Fanny Tedeschi, who became his model and muse. After Fanny’s death, Parin met Magda Springer in 1930. Their initial mentor-student relationship blossomed into a deep friendship, and they attended the same German Catholic church in Trieste.
Episode 6: Cranio (Skull) Accordion Closed
We encounter Gino’s self-portrait in his Cristo painting, along with other hidden images that include a skull; Sigmund Freud makes a short appearance, too, and we unpack the concept of the gaze.
Episode 7: Camps- Italy Accordion Closed
Parin was imprisoned in Italian camps during the German occupation of Italy. First are the two detention centers in Trieste, the Coroneo prison and the Risiera di San Sabba. The latter used to be an old rice factory converted into a transit camp for Jewish and political prisoners. In 1944, the Nazis added a crematorium to the Risiera—the only one in Italy’s four German camps. Later Parin was sent to Fossoli di Carpi, a camp administered jointly by the Italian Social Republic and Nazi Germany.
Episode 8: Camp: Bergen-Belsen Accordion Closed
We explore the concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen where Gino Parin died in June of 1944. The camp rapidly expanded with Nazi Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941. In 1943, the SS opened a special holding camp at Bergen-Belsen for a few thousand so-called “privileged” Jews to be exchanged for German prisoners kept by the Allies. Parin was deported to Bergen-Belsen in May of 1944 and died there on June 9.
Episode 9: Commemorate Accordion Closed
After his death, Parin was remembered in exhibitions featuring his art, sometimes claimed as a Jewish painter, at other times praised for his Christian-themed paintings. What curators today consider to be “characteristically Parin” are his works that engage with trends in vogue in Europe in the years before and after the First World War.
Gino Parin Exhibit: Mussolini’s Speech Accordion Closed
As part of the exhibit, a speech that Benito Mussolini gave in Trieste in 1938 is played on video. This is a supplementary audio to go with the video.
Podcast
Faculty Mentors: Björn Krondorfer, Alexandra Carpino, and Rebecca Whitehurst
Students (Narratives): Alexis Nelson, Naomi Sanders, and Elizabeth White
Students (Voice Recording): Alexander Furash, Mandolin Meilbeck, and Kailyn Woodie
Recording and Editing: Wyatt Lanford
Special thanks to Christine LaBastille, Patricia Mongini, Steven Moeckel, and Brian Rackham
Participating students are pursuing degrees at Northern Arizona University in the following fields: Advertising, Anthropology, Comparative Cultural Studies (Public Humanities Emphasis), Creative Media & Film, Marketing, Museum Studies, Public Administration, Secondary Education – History & Social Studies, Social Work, Sociology, and Theatre