URI Hillel hosts events to commemorate Holocaust and Armenian Genocide

In commemoration of the Holocaust and the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Hillel, the Jewish Student Center at the University of Rhode Island, will hosted a presentation and dinner on April 10 at the Norman M. Fain Hillel Center. Guest speakers are Dr. Albert Silverstein, Pauline Getzoyan and Esther Kalajian.

Silverstein is a retired professor of psychology at URI. Born in Austria in 1935, he survived the Holocaust by being sent away from his home and parents at age three on the Kindertransport to England, a rescue effort which brought thousands of refugee Jewish children to Great Britain from Nazi Germany between 1938 and 1940. Silverstein was reunited with his parents in November 1940 and later moved to the United States. Many of the extended Silverstein family perished in the Holocaust. Silverstein spoke about his personal experiences and the imperative to work against factors in contemporary society that make genocide possible.

Getzoyan and Kalajian are the co-chairs of the Rhode Island branch of The Genocide Education Project as well as the creators of the current URI honors seminar, “The Armenian Experience: History and Culture.” Experienced and respected educators, they are involved in many philanthropic endeavors, most notably, supporting educators in New England with materials for inclusion of genocide education in school curriculum as outlined by legislation adopted in Rhode Island in 2000. They will speak about how their Armenian identity has been shaped through historical exploration and the personal testimony of their relatives who survived the genocide.

This program was made possible in part by Laurie Onanian, a former staff member at the URI Foundation who has admired Hillel’s Holocaust related programming for many years. An active member of the Armenian community, Onanian wished to call attention to how the Armenian Genocide paved the way for Hitler and the Nazis to conduct the Holocaust.

She recalled seeing a quote of Hitler’s etched in stone at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Preparing for the Nazi invasion of Poland in August 1939, Hitler said, “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”

Other co-sponsors include the Office of Community, Equity and Diversity; the Harrington School of Communication and Media; and the Holocaust Education and Resource Center of Rhode Island.

‘Kinderblock 66:

Return To Buchenwald’

The critically acclaimed documentary “Kinderblock 66: Return to Buchenwald” will be shown at URI on April 16 at 5 p.m. in the Swan Hall Auditorium, 60 Upper College Rd., Kingston. A reception will be held at 4:30 p.m. and the film will be followed by a question-and-answer session with director Rob Cohen. This event is free and open to the public. The showing coincides with Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day.

“Kinderblock 66” is the story of four men who, as young boys, were imprisoned by the Nazis in the notorious Buchenwald concentration camp and who, 65 years later, return to commemorate the anniversary of their liberation. The film tells the story of the effort undertaken by the camp’s Communist-led underground to protect and save Jewish children who were arriving in Buchenwald toward the end of the Holocaust. “Kinderblock 66” also tells the story of Antonin Kalina, the head of the block who was personally responsible for saving 904 boys in Buchenwald.

The film’s director is a faculty member in the Film/Media Department at URI. He recently had the honor of appearing at the United Nations to discuss his film when “Kinderblock 66” was screened as part of the U.N.’s 2015 Holocaust Remembrance events.

The screening is sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences, Hillel, Film/Media, the Harrington School of Communication and Media, the Office of Community Equity and Diversity, the History Department, and the Holocaust Education and Resource Center of Rhode Island.

Other Events

On April 13 at 11 a.m., URI Hillel students will plant a “Field of Flags” on the walkway from the Multicultural Center to the Carothers Library in memory of the victims of the Nazi Holocaust. In fact, nearly 2,400 small colored flags will be placed in the ground, each representing 5,000 of the 11 million victims of the Holocaust. The flags will remain until April 17. This tradition started in 2006.

On April 16 at 12:30 p.m. there will be a Holocaust Memorial Vigil in front of the URI Multicultural Center (74 Lower College Road). This student-led ceremony will include prayers, poetry and songs to honor the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust and will serve as inspiration to recommit ourselves to preventing future atrocities. URI President David Dooley and URI Vice President for Community Equity and Diversity Naomi Thompson will speak.

A complete list of Holocaust Remembrance Week events is at www.urihillel.org.