Holocaust Survivor to Speak at UW as Part of Holocaust Remembrance Week
A number of events are scheduled for the University of Wyoming Holocaust Remembrance Week on the UW campus from Nov. 6 to 10.
The events are sponsored by Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, a UW recognized student organization. Jenna Yoches, Hillel president, said Hillel has arranged for Holocaust Survivor Estelle Nadel to speak on Friday, Nov. 10 at 4 p.m. in the Wyoming Union Ballroom.
Yoches said Nadel, who was originally from Poland, will share her story of survival as a child hiding in Nazi-occupied Poland. Yoches said Nadel grew up in California and now lives in Denver, Colorado.
“This is her third year in a row coming to the university to share her story of survival as a hidden child in the Holocaust,” Yoches said. “She was about seven when the Nazis invaded Poland.”
Yoches said after Nadel speaks, there will be a question and answer session with the audience.
Yoches said the Holocaust victims’ names will be read every day in the Wyoming Union breezeway during Holocaust Remembrance Week and that volunteers can sign up to read the names in 30-minute increments.
Yoches said the readings will begin on Monday, Nov. 6 at 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Yoches says she hopes this event honors victims in the Holocaust and their families.
“Estelle will talk about how to this day, there are still people who deny that the Holocaust ever happened,” Yoches said. “Her speaking at the University of Wyoming is a great experience for her to teach that the Holocaust is real and to show the gravity of the Holocaust and what really happened and how it’s affected people.”
Yoches said in light of recent events, Holocaust remembrance week takes on a new relevancy.
“There is still Neo-Nazi activity here in America, so this year it is extremely important that we continue to educate and show the gravity of hate and how it can lead a nation and to really help remind people of how terrible the Holocaust was and how terrible hate can be,” Yoches said.
The events on the UW campus coincide with Kristallnacht, also referred to as “The Night of Broken Glass,” which was a persecution of Jews throughout Nazi Germany and Austria on Nov. 9-10, 1938.