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Lecture

Trudy Gold
A Very British Mogul: Alexander Korda and Churchill

Thursday 22.07.2021

Summary

Film director Alexander Korda (1893–1956) rose to prominence in the British film industry. Despite his Hungarian Jewish roots, Korda is often referred to as a “very British mogul.” Korda achieved success with films like “The Private Life of Henry VIII” (1933) and “The Scarlet Pimpernel” (1934), however, during World War II, he faced controversy with “Fire Over England” (1937), and was accused of espionage. The lecture highlights Korda’s journey in the film industry and his close relationship with Winston Churchill.

Trudy Gold

An image of Trudy Gold

Trudy Gold was the CEO of the London Jewish Cultural Centre and a founding member of the British delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). Throughout her career she taught modern Jewish history at schools, universities, and to adult groups and ran seminars on Holocaust education in the UK, Eastern Europe, and China. She also led Jewish educational tours all over the world. Trudy was the educational director of the student resources “Understanding the Holocaust” and “Holocaust Explained” and the author of The Timechart History of Jewish Civilization.

There are so many stories about that plane. Did they think that Churchill was on it? There certainly was some very important military intelligence on it. Was it an accident? I don’t think we’ll ever know the story.

Yes, he had one child with his first wife.

No, he never hid that he was Jewish, but he became an English gentleman.