Students hold Holocaust vigil

Abram Shapiro.

Zippa Solomon.

Sophie Weissman.

Those are just three of the thousands of names being read on College Green today as part of Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The memorial holiday began last night at sundown, as about 225 students piled into Logan Hall. The crowd turned out to hear a lecture from Deborah Lipstadt, author of Denying the Holocaust and a world-renown expert on Holocaust denial.

Event coordinator and Daily Pennsylvanian Assignments and Features Editor Marla Dunn introduced the event with a quote from writer Elie Weisel.

"If we forget we are guilty," she said, "we are accomplices."

History Professor Thomas Childers introduced Lipstadt. He praised her for her expertise as a historian and her courage in confronting Holocaust deniers.

Lipstadt lectured primarily about her experience with David Irving, a man who brought a libel suit against Lipstadt for calling him a Holocaust denier.

Following his accusation, Lipstadt spent six years fighting Irving in a London court and eventually earned a decisive victory.

"I was fighting for my reputation, yes," Lipstadt said. "But really I was representing the people whose memories we mourn and remember tonight."

Lipstadt urged students to always combat denial with truth.

"Answer with the facts, because that will always stand," she said.

At the conclusion of the speech, students marched onto College Green wearing yellow butterfly pins and carrying yellow candles. There, students held a vigil to remember the millions of Holocaust victims.

The Shabbatones led the crowd in singing Simon and Garfunkel's Sound of Silence. Students read poetry and joined together in prayer.

Afterwards, Lipstadt recited the first few names on a long list of Holocaust victims. That began a 24-hour remembrance reading.

College senior Yael Berdugo has many relatives who experienced the Holocaust first-hand. Her grandmother survived the Auschwitz concentration camp.

"It was always an important part of my life," Berdugo says. "My mom always spoke at events, and I was always dragged along even when I was too young to understand."

Now, Berdugo said she realizes how important it is to come together as a community in remembrance of every victim.

"It's important to have a public memorial at Penn," she said, "to make sure there isn't denial of the Holocaust."

College freshman Scott Sokoloff had relatives die in the Holocaust. He said he feels last night's event was important in the battle against Holocaust denial.

"It'll force students to realize what happened and remember," Sokoloff said. "Anyone who says my relatives didn't exist is saying I don't exist."

Names of Holocaust victims will be read continuously on College Green throughout the day today. The memorial holiday ends tonight at sundown.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.