For centuries, the plunder of art objects, gold, and other riches accompanied wars. After the Nazis systematically killed millions of Jews, however, World War II's victorious Allies created a new ethic: the recovery and return of stolen art. Weighty questions about identity, value, and ownership have since emerged as the process of restitution has continued throughout the later half of the twentieth century.
Presented by Kenyon College, the Kenyon Review, and the Graham Gund Gallery, "Art and Identity: The Holocaust and Cultural Ownership in the 21st Century" will be a yearlong symposium featuring a powerful interdisciplinary series of readings, exhibitions, lectures, films, and discussions. The project will bring together scholars, students, and community members to discuss the meaning of ownership and cultural identity throughout the world and in our backyards.
September 24
Film. The Rape of Europa. Introduced by Sergei Lobanov-Rostovsky, professor of English.
5:00 p.m. Community Foundation Theater, Gund Gallery.
September 27
Lecture. Symposium opening address, by Stuart E. Eizenstat, former U.S. ambassador to the European Union.
8:00 p.m. Rosse Hall. Reception to follow in Fischman Lobby, Gund Gallery.
September 29
Book giveaway. Copies of Nicole Krauss's The History of Love will be given away to community
members.
9:00-11:00 a.m. Mount Vernon Farmers' Market, Public Square, Mount Vernon.
October 7
Poetry reading and talk. "Who Owns the Stories?" by Heid Erdrich.
7:00 p.m. Cheever Room, Finn House.
October 16
Book discussion. David Lynn, editor of the Kenyon
Review, will lead a community book discussion about The History of Love.
7:00 p.m. Public Library of Mount Vernon and Knox County.
October 24
Lecture and discussion. "The History of Love and the Art and Identity Symposium," led by Sergei Lobanov-Rostovsky, professor of English.
11:45 a.m. Public Library of Mount Vernon and Knox County.
October 30
Panel discussion. "Translation, Authorship, and Ownership," with poet Peter Cole, translator Katherine Hedeen of the Kenyon Spanish faculty, and writer Lewis Hyde of the Kenyon English faculty.
11:10 a.m. Cheever Room, Finn House.
Poetry reading. Peter Cole.
7:00 p.m. Cheever Room, Finn House
November 8
Elie Wiesel receives the Kenyon Review Award for Literary Achievement.
8:00 p.m. The Four Seasons Restaurant, New York City.
November 9
Empty Bowls Dinner, coordinated with the Kenyon College Craft Center and Mount Vernon Nazarene University, to raise money for Food for the Hungry.
5:00-7:00 p.m. Alumni Dining Room, Peirce Hall.
Lecture. "Nazi Art Looting: Culture, Barbarism, and the Quest for Identity among Perpetrators, Victims, and Their Heirs," by Jonathan Petropoulos.
8:00 p.m. Community Foundation Theater, Gund Gallery. Reception to follow in Fischman Lobby.
November 10
The Kenyon Review Literary Festival. The day's events will include writing workshops, art gallery tours, panel discussions, and seminars. Featured speakers: Joan Breton Connelly, professor of classics and art history at New York University, and Claire Lyons, acting senior curator of antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum. 
The Kenyon College Bookstore will feature a Midwest literary magazine and book sale in conjunction with the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses. Most events will take place in the Gund Gallery classrooms and theater.
The Denham Sutcliffe Memorial Lecture.An Evening with Nicole Krauss.
8:00 p.m. Rosse Hall.