Alverno College Offers Rare Opportunity to Hear a Holocaust Survivor Speak

November 30, 2012

In an increasingly rare opportunity to hear the first-hand accounts of Holocaust survivors, Alverno College will hold its 16th annual Holocaust Remembrance Service, the largest non-Jewish gathering of this type in the Midwest. The service remembers the six million Jews who perished, and honors those who resisted and survived. This year's speaker is Holocaust survivor Eric Blaustein, who was imprisoned at Buchenwald. The service will take place on Wednesday, April 5, from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Pitman Theatre, and will include a talk back. The event is free and open to the public.

Blaustein was born in Germany in 1926. When he was 12 years old, German officers arrested thousands of Jews, including Blaustein's father, and sent them to concentration camps. The date was November 9, 1938, a night that would become known as Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass. Blaustein managed to avoid Nazi authorities until December 1944, but at 17 he was sent to Buchenwald. In the Camp, he assumed the identity of a dead Italian prisoner and was able to survive until American forces arrived. His talk at Alverno will fall 72 years and a day after Buchenwald was liberated.

For those who are unable to attend the service, a live stream will be available at http://www.alverno.edu/holocaustremembrance/.