On Sunday, April 3 at noon, Holocaust Survivor, Alice Goldstein of Warwick will speak at brunch at Hillel (6 Fraternity Circle). A retired social researcher in population studies from Brown University, Goldstein spent the first eight years of her life in Nazi Germany. Goldstein’s presentation seeks some answers to the question of how such atrocities could happen in a modern democratic state and what kinds of lessons we can draw from her experiences. The brunch is free and open to the public but reservations are required and may be made on the Hillel website. This event is co-sponsored by the URI Women’s Center.
Born into a family that had been in Germany for two centuries, Goldstein saw the gradual isolation and degradation of her parents and grandparents under the Nazi regime. Fortunately, her family fled and arrived in the US just one week before the extreme hostilities of World War II began. Now active in the Jewish community of RI, Goldstein and her husband Sidney have three children and seven grandchildren.
Each year since 2006, Hillel students have planted a “Field of Flags” on the Hammerschlag Mall in memory of the victims of the Nazi Holocaust. Placed on this public thoroughfare between the URI Multicultural Student Services Center and the Library. Each flag represents 5000 of the 11,000,000 victims of the Nazi Holocaust. Altogether, 2400 flags are put in the ground, visually capturing the enormity of the devastation. The flags will be planted on Monday, April 4 at noon and will remain in place until Friday, April 8.
On Tuesday, April 5 from 5-6 p.m., there will be a special yoga and meditation session at Hillel (6 Fraternity Circle). Entitled Stretching Your Body and Mind, this session will use yoga and meditation techniques to help participants focus on healing and compassion. No experience is necessary. The event is free and open to the public. Due to space limitations, pre-registration is recommended. Register at www.urihillel.org.
On Wednesday, April 6 at noon there will be a Holocaust Memorial Vigil in front of the URI Multicultural Student Services Center (74 Lower College Rd). 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 M. Dooley and URI Vice President for Community Equity and Diversity, Naomi Thompson will speak.
On Thursday, April 7, guests are invited to attend Professor Alison Rose’s History of the Holocaust for student presentations on Memory Without Survivors — how the Holocaust will be remembered when survivors are no longer with us. Section I meets at 9:30 a.m. in Swan Hall 202 (60 Upper College Road) and Section II meets at 11 a.m. in Swan Hall 205.
Panels from “The Courage to Remember” a Simon Wiesenthal Center Poster Series on the Holocaust will be on display at the Robert L. Carothers Library and Learning Commons from Friday, April 1 through Sunday, April 10. An exhibit of Holocaust related posters, books and artifacts will be on display at URI Hillel throughout the week as well.
For a complete list of Holocaust Remembrance Week events, visit the URI Hillel website.
Contact Erica Allen at eric_allen@my.uri.edu or Amy Olson, Hillel Director at amyolson@uri.edu or call Hillel at 401-874-2740.