The 18th Annual Holocaust Awareness Week at Colorado State University took place from Feb. 20 to Feb. 27, organized by Students for Holocaust Awareness, Chabad Jewish Student Organization and Hillel at CSU, and co-sponsored by Associated Students of Colorado State University, AEPi and RAMEvents. The schedule included a “Field of Flags” ceremony, each one representing 5,000 Jewish lives lost during the Holocaust; a “Litany of Martyrs” reading throughout the week, where volunteers recited the names of Jewish victims; a showing of the television documentary, “70th Anniversary of Auschwitz Liberation”; and a memorial service. The events were free and open to the public. Helping to arrange them was the Rohr Chabad Jewish Center of Northern Colorado and Colorado State University in Fort Collins, co-directed by Rabbi Yerachmiel and Devorah Leah Gorelik, which serves the university and the local community.
The main event this year was guest speaker Rabbi Nissen Mangel, a renowned scholar, author, speaker and philosopher who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. He was the youngest inmate of the Auschwitz extermination camp. Only 10 years old, he ultimately survived the Nazi selections and final death march before being liberated in 1945. Nearly 700 people packed the Lory Student Center Theater on the evening of Feb. 23 to hear his story.
This year’s president of Chabad Student Jewish Organization—Danielle Geller, 22, of Aurora, Colo., a senior majoring in human development and family studies with a minor in gerontology—was one of them.
Q: What is your background knowledge of the Holocaust?
A: I am a third-generation survivor. Three of my grandparents survived the Holocaust—both of my mother’s parents and my father’s mother. I have a few memories that my grandmothers shared with me. But I was young, and they really didn’t talk much to me or anyone about it. Still, it’s something that has always been a part of my life, and my parents would sometimes reveal something to me or to each other about it. One thing that comes from my family is that the minute it gets dark, my mother immediately closes all the blinds. I guess it’s for protection, so that no one looks in. When I got to college, I noticed I did the same thing; it was then that I made the connection.
I also had some education about the Holocaust in public school, and I have heard survivors speak before.
Q: What impressed you most about Rabbi Mangel’s talk?
A: It wasn’t just me; it was everyone there. A lot of them were college students, high school students, but there were plenty of adults, too. I’m sure the majority were not Jewish. Some had never heard a Holocaust survivor speak before. Although it shouldn’t have surprised me, I really did not expect so many people to show up and hear this man. I was looking around the room, and some people were crying; many more were in awe. It was quiet—complete silence as he spoke—and it is really hard to keep students quiet.
His talk, it sticks with you. My grandfather didn’t talk about the Holocaust. He was very depressed; he lost his whole family. And here was this religious rabbi describing so much. One really moving part of his speech is when he said he didn’t know why he survived, when one-and-a-half million other Jewish children did not, crediting it to Divine intervention.
I bet anybody could listen to his stories and learn something new.
Q: Why was his story different than others you have heard?
A: Rabbi Mangel’s speech was not about the horrible things that happened to him during the Holocaust, but rather, the fact that he never gave up and never stopped believing in G‑d. When he showed us his tattoo (the number on his arm), it was a profound moment, a truly chilling moment. Not every Holocaust survivor would show you that. And then, saying that this was his badge of honor and the way he will get into the world to come was even more amazing. The fact that he lost his father and his childhood but still was able to keep his faith, when so many other people lost theirs, really shows that you can go through anything and still believe in G‑d.
What also makes him unlike other survivors that I have heard is that he doesn’t seem to have survivor guilt; he knows there is a reason that he is alive. Although he may never learn that reason, there is one. And he is sure that G‑d doesn’t do anything without a reason.
Q: What are your lasting impressions of such a powerful evening?
A: My generation is one of the last to be able to hear a Holocaust survivor speak in person, and that means it’s even more important to get a chance to do so. Especially in this day and age of the Internet and so much false information, it is necessary to hear from those who went through it, to hear the truth.
Throughout the speech, I kept on thinking that there are so many people who never managed to tell their stories; either they didn’t make it, or they were too traumatized to talk about it. That’s why everyone should hear from an existing survivor. They are becoming old, frail; many can no longer travel. And sadly, they are dying; it’s the last generation. The day the last survivor dies will be a loss for everyone.
Q: What will you take away from this after graduating—both the events of the week and the Jewish involvement you have experienced on campus, particularly with Chabad?
A: All of it helped me connect with my Judaism. I met Rabbi Gorelik in my freshman year as part of a philosophy class. He was an amazing teacher! I started going to Chabad weekly, attending Shabbat dinners and becoming more involved. Most of my friends went to Chabad, too. I thought it was amazing to see an Orthodox family in Fort Collins, a very college-oriented town and not very diverse. They have been an important part of my college experience, an important part of my life.
Being on the student board of Chabad really helped me learn how to be a leader and how to talk to people, especially at a school where there’s not a lot of Jews. I know I’ll keep going to synagogue. And I know that anywhere in the world, I can connect with Jewish people.
As for the near future, I’m hoping to work with the older generation. I love their stories, their history and how different their lives are compared to ours.
Rabbi Gorelik described it as a “miracle” of sorts that Rabbi Mangel came to Colorado, saying he tried for years to get him to come speak, and he finally agreed because “he likes supporting small-town shluchim.” Following the talk, 100 or so people lined up to shake Rabbi Mangel’s hand and to thank him, something even Rabbi Mangel said usually doesn’t happen, noting that the audience was particularly riveted and respectful.
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