The Cavalier Daily
Serving the University Community Since 1890

A time to remember

Maybe your grandmother escaped from a concentration camp in Germany. Or maybe you have met Holocaust survivors or visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. Possibly your roommate lost a relative in the Armenian or Rwandan genocides. Maybe you personally have been a victim of hate or perhaps you have no personal relation to prejudice at all.

Whether or not University students can identify with instances of hatred, the Hillel Jewish Student Union encourages everyone to come to the Holocaust Memorial Vigil to recognize and remember.

"This year, it is going to be emphasizing the relevance of the Holocaust as more than just a historical occurrence or its relevance to just one minority group," said Abby Bellows, first-year College student and Hillel religious programming vice president.

In a tent set up outside of the chapel, a commemorative service will begin at 7 p.m. on April 28. "It is Jewish-related and there will be some Jewish content but the service will be extremely accessible to all faiths and cultures," Bellows said.

The vigil coincides with Yom Hashoah, a Jewish holiday for Holocaust remembrance, but the service will emphasize all minorities who have suffered persecution.

"It is especially important for Jewish students but there were lots of other groups that were persecuted during the Holocaust," said Rebecca Klimpl, second-year College student and Hillel president.

Bellows added that there will be a speaker from the Armenian Cultural Society and possibly someone who will speak about the Rwandan genocide.

After the service, a 24-hour reading of Holocaust victims' names will begin, and anyone can sign up for a 20-minute reading shift. The list of names comes from a foundation that researches and raises money for Holocaust awareness and education.

"We would love people of different cultures and faiths to read," Klimpl said. "You definitely do not need to be Jewish or have any Jewish affiliation."

Klimpl said that reading names at last year's memorial vigil was a very moving experience.

"There is such an emotional difference between saying six million and seeing pages filled with names of real people, hair color, eye color, place of birth and age next to the names of their whole families who were killed," Klimpl said."At least you are remembering by saying their names when there is no one else who is alive who could remember them."

Even if a student does not want to read, Klimpl encourages students to stop by and listen or peruse the pictures and information that will be available.

"We say 'we shall never forget' and by remembering in such a poignant way, we can prevent anything like this from happening again," Klimpl said.

Local Savings

Comments

Latest Video

Latest Podcast

Ahead of Lighting of the Lawn, Riley McNeill and Chelsea Huffman, co-chairs of the Lighting of the Lawn Committee and fourth-year College students, and Peter Mildrew, the president of the Hullabahoos and third-year Commerce student, discuss the festive tradition which brings the community together year after year. From planning the event to preparing performances, McNeil, Huffman and Mildrew elucidate how the light show has historically helped the community heal in the midst of hardship.