Students commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day

Shielding the flames of their candles from the Superblock wind, 40 students gathered last night to commemorate Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Memorial Day. The students -- some wearing yellow felt Stars of David like those European Jews were forced to wear during the Holocaust -- then solemnly proceeded down Locust Walk toward College Green. As the evening grew colder and it began to rain, approximately 100 students and faculty gathered at the peace sign for the observance's opening ceremonies -- which included Holocaust-related stories, speeches and poems. "The weather is actually appropriate for the occasion," Associate Vice Provost for University Life Larry Moneta said, as he spoke about what the Holocaust meant to him. Several of his family members perished in the gas chambers, and Moneta advised the audience to learn more about Holocaust survivors' personal stories before it is too late. "Do more than simply remember," Moneta said. "Talk to a survivor." Six million Jews are estimated to have been murdered in the Holocaust, which was engineered by Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime during World War II. College junior Abigail Lindenbaum, co-chairperson of Hillel's Holocaust Education Committee, which organized the event, echoed Moneta's sentiment. "I ask that you seek out the individuals behind these names," Lindenbaum said, referring to the 24-hour reading of Holocaust victims' names that commenced after the ceremony. German Professor Kathryn Hellerstein, who specializes in Yiddish language and literature, said Yiddish is a "complex, vibrant, variegated culture? that was all but destroyed" in the Holocaust. "Those that know and love Yiddish keep it alive," Hellerstein said, noting that Khurbm -- the Yiddish term for the Holocaust -- literally translates as "destruction." Hellerstein and several students read poignant poems by individuals who lived through the Holocaust, while other members of the committee told personal Holocaust-related stories. College freshman Michelle Fliman said her Hungarian grandfather's high school class was awestruck when he went to his 40th reunion, because many of his classmates believed he had perished in the Holocaust. "This is my family -- my wife, my daughters and my grandchildren," Fliman quoted her grandfather -- a Holocaust survivor -- as telling his class at the reunion. And College freshman Michael Litwin discussed his emotional experience two years ago on the March of the Living, during which more than 6,000 people -- two-thirds of them teenagers -- walk from Poland to Israel each year. "Until I was standing in the gas chambers of Auschwitz, I had no idea the impact it would have on me," Litwin said. "I saw it," he added. "I saw the destruction and decay." Litwin's photographs from the journey were collected in a slide show that also began last night and will end today at 6:45 p.m. The 24-hour name reading will also conclude with a special closing ceremony this evening. The closing ceremony at the peace sign will be followed at 7:30 p.m. with a speech by Nelly Toll, a Holocaust survivor and an artist since childhood.

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