Awareness week aims to educate, alert
Guest speakers offer testimony about personal experiences in trying times, Holocaust, Rwanda
Aleks Cherednichenko
Issue date: 4/16/07 Section: News
Imagine surviving Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II or watching your parents be deported from your hometown. Eva and Leslie Aigner know these experiences all too well.
They will share their stories of survival during a public talk Wednesday night at Milam Auditorium as a part of Holocaust Memorial Week on campus.
The lecture, "Surviving the Holocaust: Two Testimonies," is only one in a series of public talks and screenings put on by Oregon State University in association with the city of Corvallis.
This is the 21st installment of the annual observance program.
"We have two aims for this week: first is to educate students on what the Holocaust means, not only what it is," said Paul Kopperman, a professor of history at OSU. "We also want to alert people of ongoing genocides and mass murders."
Holocaust cinema is a big part of the week's events.
"We wanted to acknowledge the recent trends in Holocaust cinema, films mainly made since the early 1990s," Kopperman said.
Tonight, Lawrence Baron will speak on how the subject of the Holocaust has been incorporated into public education and feature films.
Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. will be a screening of the film "Fateless" at the LaSells Stewart Center. The movie draws from a semi-biographical experience of writer Imre Kertesz, whose novel inspired the film.
Wednesday, a public talk led by Alexander Korb titled "Intertwined Genocides? Violence against Serbs, Jews and Roma in Wartime Croatia," will be held at Milam Hall at 4 p.m.
"This day is really the core of the week. We have two actual survivors of the Holocaust coming from Portland to talk to the students," Kopperman said.
The week will wind down on Thursday with a discussion on the ongoing genocide in Darfur. Stephanie Nyombayire will present "Will Darfur be Another Rwanda?"
Nyombayire lost 100 members of her family to the Rwandan genocide in 1994. She now speaks on college campuses as a representative of the Genocide Intervention Network, an organization founded in 2004 to combat genocide, particularly the Darfurian genocide.
"It is extremely important to us that students leave the [Holocaust Memorial Week] feeling empowered. We hope to provide guidance to those who want to be involved in the solution of genocide," Kopperman said. "After Thursday, [students] should be aware of who they can contact and what can be done to deal with issues of genocide."
They will share their stories of survival during a public talk Wednesday night at Milam Auditorium as a part of Holocaust Memorial Week on campus.
The lecture, "Surviving the Holocaust: Two Testimonies," is only one in a series of public talks and screenings put on by Oregon State University in association with the city of Corvallis.
This is the 21st installment of the annual observance program.
"We have two aims for this week: first is to educate students on what the Holocaust means, not only what it is," said Paul Kopperman, a professor of history at OSU. "We also want to alert people of ongoing genocides and mass murders."
Holocaust cinema is a big part of the week's events.
"We wanted to acknowledge the recent trends in Holocaust cinema, films mainly made since the early 1990s," Kopperman said.
Tonight, Lawrence Baron will speak on how the subject of the Holocaust has been incorporated into public education and feature films.
Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. will be a screening of the film "Fateless" at the LaSells Stewart Center. The movie draws from a semi-biographical experience of writer Imre Kertesz, whose novel inspired the film.
Wednesday, a public talk led by Alexander Korb titled "Intertwined Genocides? Violence against Serbs, Jews and Roma in Wartime Croatia," will be held at Milam Hall at 4 p.m.
"This day is really the core of the week. We have two actual survivors of the Holocaust coming from Portland to talk to the students," Kopperman said.
The week will wind down on Thursday with a discussion on the ongoing genocide in Darfur. Stephanie Nyombayire will present "Will Darfur be Another Rwanda?"
Nyombayire lost 100 members of her family to the Rwandan genocide in 1994. She now speaks on college campuses as a representative of the Genocide Intervention Network, an organization founded in 2004 to combat genocide, particularly the Darfurian genocide.
"It is extremely important to us that students leave the [Holocaust Memorial Week] feeling empowered. We hope to provide guidance to those who want to be involved in the solution of genocide," Kopperman said. "After Thursday, [students] should be aware of who they can contact and what can be done to deal with issues of genocide."
Note: writers will not reply to comments.
Be the first to comment on this story
Comments by registered users are approved by default.