Holocaust survivor to speak Monday at local college
By News-Argus Staff
Published in News on November 13, 2005 2:00 AM
Holocaust survivor Gizella Abramson will share her memories at Wayne Community College Monday at 7 p.m. in Moffatt Auditorium.
Her speech will be sponsored by Wayne County Reads, World View and Wayne County Schools.
Mrs. Abramson, a native of Poland and a North Carolina resident, will discuss her experiences as a child in Nazi concentration camps, including the Majdanek death camp.
For the past 30 years, Mrs. Abramson has shared her experiences with audiences across the state. She was appointed a charter member of the N.C. Council on the Holocaust in 1982 and is still a member of the group.
This lecture is the seventh in a series of World View lectures at WCC, which were designed to increase global awareness in the community.
World View was established at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1998.
The speech also is an introduction to this year's Wayne County Reads program, which will deal not only with the Holocaust, but with Jewish culture and the contributions Jewish people have made to both this community and around the world.
In keeping with the theme, the program, which officially kicks off in January, has chosen the book, "Night," by Elie Wiesel.
The book details the horrors experienced by the Jewish people in the Nazi death camps, and challenges the reader never to forget what happened there.
The book, which will be available at Books A Million and at the county library in limited supply, will be the impetus for several other programs being planned by the Wayne County Reads Committee, including a presentation of the play, "I Never Saw Another Butterfly."
The production is based on the book of the same name, which uses poems and drawings of children in the Terezin concentration camp during World War II to depict their sadness, their struggles and their continued hope and spirit. The camp, located in the hills outside Prague, Czechoslovakia, was created to help cover up the Nazi genocide of the Jews.
Several other events are planned for the county's celebration of reading including a film series, a re-enactment and discussion of the Nuremberg trials and a possible lecture series and discussion group. County schoolchildren will also participate.
All county residents are invited to attend this event.