In Memoriam: Dora Amelan

We at the Hannah Arendt Center mourn the death of Dora Amelan (1920-2020). Dora was a remarkable French Jewish woman who worked with the Children’s Aid Society in the French internment camps during WWII, saving many children and adults. Dora was the mother of Bjorn Amelan and mother-in-law to his partner Bill T. Jones, who has long collaborated with the Hannah Arendt Center and Bard College. Dora passed away this week in Paris, from complications associated with Covid-19. 

Bill T. Jones interviewed Dora in 2002 and created through his Bill T. Jones/ Arnie Zane Company an extraordinary work Analogy/Dora: Transmontante. Bill T. Jones and his company performed the work at Bard College sponsored by the Hannah Arendt Center in November, 2017. After the performance Bill, Bjorn, and the company joined Roger Berkowitz, Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center, and Bard students for a discussion of Dora’s life, art, activism, and moral and political courage. You can watch the discussion here