WELCOME to PAPERS, PLEASE, a non-profit founded in 2018 by Nora Jean and Michael H. Levin (1942-2024) to re-create an extended Jewish family's first-person journeys through tumultuous cultural, political and economic events that shaped the West's 20th Century.  This website brings together these odysseys in a multi-platform panoramic canvas.

 

At its core are first-person narratives collected from our principals, their families and their friends.  That's thanks to Hirsch Bieler, Jean's father,  who recognized his story had a broader context that could be grasped only if unfamiliar times, places and characters were made familiar.  He convinced us too -- though mastering the who, what, when, where and how of this adventure took four decades. 

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The heart of these linked journeys is the power of music and family loyalty coupled with talent, determination and resilience to navigate the life-or-death need for proper identity, residence, citizenship or travel documents -- "Papers, please?" -- our characters face at every border they reach.  This  question shapes their ability to work, study, live, and secure new lives and still remain connected to those left behind. It's a theme that echoes for millions of refugees and immigrants on the move today.​ 

 

We present these tales through a series of nonfiction books; a multi-media venue-specific Two Pianos: Playing for Life 'concert documentary with narration plus live classical music; a curated pop-up exhibit with numerous artifacts; recorded live presentations; video performance highlights and full-length DVDs.

Our non-fiction books are published under the imprint Penn Convoy Press, in memory of the oil products company Hirsch Bieler founded in 1939 after he reached the States.  These  volumes are first-person oral histories of the main characters and their circles, backed by letters, newspaper clippings, photographs, travel documents, and historical context. 

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Highlights videos can be viewed on our Two Pianos You Tube Channel.   Highlights videos and performance reviews also are on our Two Pianos website.​

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Here are this saga's main characters.  Here are some of its secondary characters.  And here are the resources we drew from. 

 

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