First... getting to know "Lady Claire"

Claire didn't speak in detail of her time in WWII until the end of her life. In 2008, at the age of 86, she sat down with one of her former students, Dr. Keith Berge, and shared details she admitted "I have never even told my husband." I find this video to be stunning. It leaves me, like so many surviving friends and family of those passed on, with countless questions which will never be answered. For me anyway, the fact that she gave her life to the pursuit of the humanities makes perfect sense. How could anyone bear witness to what she did and not spend a lifetime trying to make sense of it? The video is linked here in the title: Claire Van Zant - Codebreaking for the RAF.

Additionally are listed Alain Resnais' harrowing Night and Fog, (which Van Zant showed in class,) 2022's All Quiet on the Western Front, a film which explores a theme in which Van Zant ardently believed and 2023's The Zone of Interest which I think Van Zant would have shown to her classes.

Night and Fog (Nuit et brouillard) | 1956 I think Van Zant showed this film in class for very personal reasons. It's a BAFTA Award-nominated documentary chronicles the history of Nazi Germany's death camps of the Final Solution and the hellish world of dehumanization and death contained inside.

All Quiet on the Western Front | 2022 "All Quiet on the Western Front" is considered a true anti-war film, emphasizing the futility and horror of war. Based on Erich Maria Remarque's novel, it avoids glorifying war, portraying instead the meaningless deaths of soldiers like Paul Baumer. This aligns with Mrs. Van Zant's views on war's senselessness.

The Zone of Interest | 2023 Loosely based on the 2014 novel by Martin Amis, the film focuses on the life of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Hoss and his wife Hedwig, who live with their family in a home in the "Zone of Interest" next to the concentration camp.

Claire Van Zant - Codebreaking for the RAF 1981 Claire Van Zant, Humanities teacher in Rochester, Minnesota sat down with a Spartan Scene reporter in 1981 and spoke for the first time of her service with the RAF during World War II where she worked as a codebreaker and an intelligence officer.

Claire Van Zant interviewed by Keith Berge in 2008 2022 Claire Van Zant, at the age of 86, sat down with one of her old students Dr. Keith Berge for a little over an hour to discuss her involvement in WW2. Claire speaks candidly here of the horrors of what she experienced. Just preparing to be interviewed was a chore.

Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp Liberation 2022 This remastered and colorized footage was taken during the liberation of Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, shot on the 23rd and 24th of April, 1945. Van Zant, in her capacity as an intelligence officer with the RAF, was present in the earliest days of the liberation and personally witnessed the horror that is featured here.

The Van Zant Sense of Humor 1981 "Lady Claire Teaches You Cricket" Sometime in the early 1980s, the Mayo High School student-produced news program got the idea of turning over the broadcast to the faculty. (It was very possibly an April 1st show.) A handful of willing teachers stepped in front of the cameras but no one was more willing to poke fun of their public persona than Mrs. Van Zant. She took up the challenge of delivering the sportscast but added her own special charm- a primer in the art of cricket!

Videos and artwork introduced in class (1980 - 1983) These are the films showed during the classes I attended and the paintings that were studied. Not surprising to anyone who knew her, she leaned heavily on BBC adaptations which (I still think) are stunning.

Oedipus the King (HUMANITIES I, ANCIENT ATHENS) 1968 Cast: Christopher Plummer, Orson Welles, Lilli Palmer Based on the myth of Oedipus, whose cursed fate was to marry his mother and kill his father, the play explores themes of destiny, free will, and literal and metaphoric vision and blindness.

A Man For All Seasons (HUMANITIES II, MAN AND GOD) 1966 Cast: Paul Scofield, Orson Welles, Robert Shaw The struggle between Sir Thomas More and King Henry VIII hinges on Henry's determination to break with Rome so he can divorce his current wife and wed again, and good Catholic More's inability to go along with such heresy.

Doctor Faustus (HUMANITIES II, MAN AND GOD) 1967 Cast: Richard Burton, Andreas Teuber, Elizabeth Taylor Faustus is a scholar whose insatiable appetite for knowledge and power leads him to conjure Mephistopheles out of Hell. He bargains away his soul to Lucifer in exchange for living twenty-four years of pleasure.

Crime and Punishment (HUMANITIES II, MEASURE OF MODERN MAN) 1979 Cast: John Hurt, Timothy West, Sian Phillips Crime and Punishment follows the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of Rodion Raskolnikov, an impoverished ex-student in Saint Petersburg who plans to kill an unscrupulous pawnbroker.

Anna Karenina (HUMANITIES III, BEYOND ENLIGHTENMENT) 1977 Cast: Nicola Pagett, Stuart Wilson, Eric Porter The story centers on an extramarital affair between Anna and dashing cavalry officer Count Vronsky that scandalizes the social circles of Saint Petersburg and forces the young lovers to flee to Italy.

The Brothers Karamazov (HUMANITIES III, BEYOND ENLIGHTENMENT) 1958 Cast: Yul Brynner, Claire Bloom, Lee J. Cobb The Brothers Karamazov is a novel with a simple plot about a murder and a complex discussion of faith, doubt, and morality.

Madame Bovary (HUMANITIES III, BEYOND ENLIGHTENMENT) 1975 Cast: Francesca Annis, Tom Conti, Denis Lill Grasping for idealized intimacy, Emma Bovary begins to act out her romantic fantasies and embarks on an ultimately disastrous love affair with Rodolphe, a local landowner.

The Garden of Earthly Delights (HUMANITIES II, MAN AND GOD) Hieronymus Bosch The Garden of Earthly Delights is Bosch's most complex and enigmatic creation. The overall theme of the triptych is the fate of humanity.

The Temptation of St. Anthony (HUMANITIES III, BEYOND ENLIGHTENMENT) Pieter Bruegel the Elder Legends of Anthony Abbot relate how the pious early Christian, forsaking society, journeyed into the wilderness to seek God. Anthony appears twice in this painting; in his foreground retreat, he resists the Devil's manifold temptations. After failing to yield to the evil lures, he is shown again being physically tortured while carried aloft by demons. Yet, the saint was saved by the purity of his soul.

Media related to class material that has been found after graduation I have added additional audio and video versions of Claire's assigned work as I discover them. Obviously, some of these were created after her death and I am left to my own best judgement as to whether or not she would have approved. I'm fairly confident she would have found at least aspects in them all to applaud. If you were shown something else, please contact me; I will be more than happy to add it.

Great Greek Myths: The Odyssey (HUMANITIES I, ANCIENT ATHENS) 2019 In 'The Odyssey', Homer recounts the perilous return of Odysseus to his kingdom of Ithaca. The Greek hero will travel for a decade to find his island pursued by the implacable wrath of Poseidon. An epic journey, strewn with encounters, traps, spells... after which he finds Penelope who has never ceased to wait for him, embroidering the day and undoing her work at night to refuse her suitors.

1984 (HUMANITIES I, NEW YORK AND CONTEMPORARY AMERICA) 1984 | Cast: John Hurt, Richard Burton, Suzanna Hamilton Serving silently the autocratic hyper-state of Oceania, lowly Winston Smith summons the courage to write down his unspoken desires in his secret diary. Sooner or later, he will have to pay for his crimes against the dictatorial state. What makes a good citizen?

The Bucket Rider (HUMANITIES II, MEASURE OF MODERN MAN) "The Bucket Rider" is a short story by Franz Kafka, written in 1917. The story has been interpreted as a discourse on the inevitable conflict between people due to the innate differences and another interpretation is that the conflict between the bucket-rider and the coal-dealer is due to language acting as both barrier and bridge.

The Duchess of Malfi (HUMANITIES II, MAN AND GOD) 2014 | Cast: Gemma Arterton, James Garnon, Alex Waldmann The widowed Duchess of Malfi longs to marry her lover Antonio but her rancorous brothers are implacably opposed to the match. When they discover that the Duchess has secretly married and carries Antonio's child, they exact a terrible and horrific revenge.

The Duchess of Malfi (HUMANITIES II, MAN AND GOD) 1992 Cast: Fiona Shaw, Roger Allam, John Schrapnel BBC Radio 3  |  John Webster 's classic tragedy of forbidden love, murder and revenge in a radio production recorded on location at Liancaiach Fawr Manor House. The Duchess of Malfi

From Atheism to Christianity: The Story of C.S. Lewis (HUMANITIES II, MAN AND GOD) Featuring: Dr. Joel Heck This lecture by Dr. Joel Heck focuses on the spiritual journey of C.S. Lewis and was given at the Wade Center on June 27, 2017. Although raised in a Christian family, C.S. Lewis adopted atheism at the age of fourteen. Heck provides details into Lewis's fifteen-year journey between 1916 and his conversion to Christianity in 1931--explaining why Lewis became an atheist, including many factors relevant to atheists today.

The Most Reluctant Convert: The Untold Story of CS Lewis (HUMANITIES II, MAN AND GOD) 2021 Cast: Max McClean, Nicholas Ralph, Eddie Ray Martin I include the discussion guide to this film even though it was produced years after her death. Van Zant studied under Lewis and assigned his written work regularly. I have no idea if she would have approved of the specific storytelling of the film but I expect she would have celebrated that it was made.

No Exit (HUMANITIES II, MEASURE OF MODERN MAN) Jean-Paul Sartre Cast: Glenda Jackson (Inez); Anna Massey (Estelle); Donald Pleasance (Garcin); Thomas Kempinski (Valet) A 1968 BBC audio adaptation the 1944 existentialist French play. Three deceased characters are punished by being locked into a room together for eternity. This is the source of Sartre's famous phrase "Hell is other people", a reference to Sartre's idea about being forced to see oneself as an object from another's consciousness. No Exit

Paradise Lost (HUMANITIES II, MAN AND GOD) 2018 Cast: Ian McKellen, Simon Russell Beale, Frances Barber BBC Radio 4 Drama |  Satan and his fellow rebel angels free themselves from a lake of fire in Hell. They construct pandemonium, and once there, debate whether they should begin another war with God.     A Survey of Paradise Lost Paradise Lost: Part One Paradise Lost: Part Two