Survivor Irving Roth featured speaker for Holocaust Awareness Week at Colorado State University
CONTACT FOR REPORTERS:
Kate Jeracki
(970) 491-2658
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kate.jeracki@colostate.edu
Irving Roth, director of the Holocaust Resource Center–Temple Judea of Manhasset, New York, and a survivor of Nazi death camps during World War II, is the featured speaker for this year’s 21st annual Holocaust Awareness Week at Colorado State University.
Roth, 90, will discuss his personal experiences in Auschwitz and Buchenwald on Wednesday, Feb. 20, at 7 p.m. in the Main Ballroom of the Lory Student Center. The event is free and open to the public.
An adjunct professor at the University of Maine, Roth is a recognized speaker on anti-Semitism and the Holocaust and is a frequent lecturer at colleges and universities in the United States, Canada and Europe. He received the Spirit of Anne Frank Outstanding Citizen Award from the Anne Frank Center USA for promoting human rights, social justice and for conceiving, developing and initiating the Adopt a Survivor program, which has been instituted in high schools and colleges nationally and internationally.
Roth is also an author and editor of books about the Holocaust who devotes his time educating young and old about the evils of prejudice and anti-Semitism.
“We are so honored to have Mr. Roth join us on campus this year,” said Rabbi Yerachmiel Gorelik, member of the CSU philosophy faculty and adviser to Jewish student groups on campus. “With every passing year, we have fewer and fewer Holocaust survivors with us to share their personal testimony of the horrors of the camps and those dark times.”
Denise Negrete, president of Students for Holocaust Awareness Week, pointed out that it might be more important than ever for people to hear such testimony.
“Given the horrific tragedy in Pittsburgh last year and the ongoing increase in anti-Semitism across the nation, this year’s event carries a message that is still timely,” she said.
Holocaust Awareness Week
CSU’s annual Holocaust Awareness Week, Feb. 15-22, offers a range of free events that are open to the public.
On Friday, Feb. 15, at 1 p.m., CSU students and staff will begin setting up the Field of Flags on the Lory Student Center Plaza, to represent the lives lost in the Holocaust.
On Monday, Feb. 18, noon-2 p.m., a lecture from a student about “Holocaust Survivor Grandparents” will be presented in the Cherokee Park Room in the Lory Student Center.
Monday through Thursday, volunteers will read the names of those lost in the Litany of Martyrs, on the Plaza from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; in case of inclement weather, the reading will move inside the LSC.
On Tuesday, Feb. 19, Goodbye, Children (Au Revoir, Les Enfants), the 1987 autobiographic film that tells of director Louis Malle’s experience at a French boarding school hiding Jewish students from the Nazis during WWI, will be shown at 7 p.m. in the Lory Student Center Theatre.
On Wednesday, Feb. 20, at 7 p.m. is the main event: “Evening with a Survivor” in the LSC Main Ballroom (details above).
And on Friday, Feb. 22, together with the Field of Flags take-down, Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity will hold a Memorial and Walk to Remember at 1 p.m. on the Plaza or in the LSC Theater lobby, weather depending.
Holocaust Awareness Week events are presented by Students for Holocaust Awareness at CSU, co-sponsored by ASCSU, Hillel, Chabad, AEPI and SAEPI fraternity and sorority.
For more information, go to the website or call (915) 202-4008.