Join Pamela Reitman at the Jewish Community Library in San Francisco
Join Pamela Reitman at the Jewish Community Library in San Francisco on March 8, 2026 at 1:30PM for a slideshow presentation of “Survival Through Art: The Life and Work of Charlotte Salomon,” which examines how the creative force transforms trauma. With fierce determination Charlotte pursued her art against all odds, then, as jackboots approached, she risked her life to ensure her legacy. Book signing to follow.
Please register to attend this free in-person program. The Library is locates at 1835 Ellis Street in San Francisco, with free garage parking at 1227 Pierce Street between Ellis and Eddy.
About Charlotte Salomon Paints Her Life:
Inspired by the life and work of a young German-Jewish art student
When Charlotte Salomon attends the Berlin Art Academy, her First Place art contest prize is denied because she is a Jew, and following that humiliation, her enrollment is annulled. After Kristallnacht, she is sent from Berlin into exile on the Cote d’Azur, where she embarks on the making of her masterpiece, “Life? Or Theater?” Haunted by the encroaching terror of the Third Reich and the threat of psychological disintegration, alone and without identity papers, Charlotte clings to her determination to become a serious modernist painter, to complete her monumental work and get it into the hands of safekeeping in a race against time before capture by the Nazis.
About Pamela Reitman:
Pamela Reitman is an award-winning writer with numerous publications in literary journals, news outlets, and magazines. She has a B.A cum laude in English from Columbia and an MPH from the University of California Berkeley. She is retired from a career in public health and community service aimed at reducing the stigma of mental illness. Ms. Reitman was a past Director of Makor Or: A Jewish Meditation Center in San Francisco. She is lay ordained in the Soto Zen Buddhist tradition. She lives in Healdsburg, California with her husband.
