PAPERS, PLEASE: A 20th CENTURY ODYSSEY 

FRIENDS OF TWO PIANOS and PAPERS PLEASE

As a non-profit organization, our generous Contributors have made possible development of the Papers Please live concert documentary events in Philadelphia, Newark, Leipzig and Yonkers plus companion educational materials such as the Two Pianos Exhibits; color brochures in German and English; event programs in German and English; and filming/editing the Highlights Videos displayed here or on the Two Pianos YouTube channel.  Donations of in-kind expert services supported video and audio tape conversions of family archival material for our multi-media presentations and provided the expertise to produce full-length DVDs of the 2019 Rutgers and 2022 Yonkers events.  

Donations also enabled the 2021 publication / distribution (under the Penn Convoy Press imprint) of A Border Town in Poland: A 20th Century Memoir/ Hirsch Bieler as told to Nora Jean and Michael H. Levin. The second volume in this oral-history series, Firebird, the Musical Life and Times of  Rebecca Burstein-Arbor as told to Nora Jean and Michael H. Levin, will be published in 2023. A final volume, covering (among other events) Anna's pianist older sister Bertha and Bertha's musical family during and after the Siege of Leningrad (1941-1944), should appear in 2024.

Unique artifacts from Anna’s Kulturbund membership and her Leipzig Germany Kulturbund concerts (1934, 1936) were donated by the Levin family to (and are preserved by) the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History (NMAJH), Philadelphia PA. Please click this link to view the online collections catalog entries.

 EVENT PARTNERS

2018:  The Judische Kulturbund Project, Gail Prensky, Director – Philadelphia PA

2019:  Ariowitsch Haus, Gisela Kallenbach, Director - Leipzig Germany

2019:  Institute for Jazz Studies, Wayne Winborne, Director - Rutgers University / Newark NJ

2022:  Untermyer Gardens Conservancy, Stephen Byrns, President - Yonkers, NY

CITY HOSTS

City of Leipzig, Office for International Affairs and Office for Cultural Affairs

VENUE HOSTS

Premiere Concert & Full Exhibit: Mary Louise Curtis Branch, Settlement Music School – Philadelphia PA

Back-Story Concert & Exhibit: Grieg Haus (World HQ, Editions Peters Music Publishing) – Leipzig  

Two Pianos Concert & Display Case (Anna Burstein / Halina Neuman Admissions and Graduation records) -- Leipzig Conservatory

Two Pianos Concert & Full Exhibit: Paul Robeson Center – Rutgers University/ Newark

Two Pianos Concert: Persian Walled Garden, Untermyer Gardens Conservancy – Yonkers NY

CORPORATE SPONSORS

Hyatt Corporation; Parkway Corporation -- Philadelphia

Europische Stiftung der Rahn Dittrich Group; KSW Immobilien; Reinwald GmbH; Marriott Corporation -- Leipzig

Yamaha Artist Services -- Rutgers/Newark

 OTHER ORGANIZATIONS

Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History (NMAJH) -- Philadelphia

Synagoge und Begegnungszentrum [Community Center] e.V. -- Leipzig

Ahavas Sholom Synagogue -- Rutgers / Newark

MAJOR IN-KIND SUPPORT

Video / Audio: Gail Prensky, Meteopa Productions -- Washington DC

DVDs: Stuart Schnitzer -- Newark NJ

CONTRIBUTORS

$7,500 - $24,999 - Benefactors - Levin/Hoffman Family

Hon. Lori Grifa and Edward Hoffman

Ann and Ken Hoffman

Nora Jean and Michael Levin

$2,500 - $7,499 - Patrons

Gail Chesler

Margot K. Jones

Paris Singer

$500 - $2,499 - Donors

Andrew S. Levin

Phyllis and Michael Levy

Hon. Andrew Maguire

Igor Mizine

Jane and Salomon Suwalsky

$25 - $499 – Supporters