Holocaust Museum Speaker Featured at Remembrance Program

Remembering the more than 6 million victims of Nazi atrocities, the guest speaker will be Martin Borell, board chair of the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg, Fla. The museum houses a permanent exhibition, “Kaddish in Wood,” featuring carvings of French children of the Holocaust created by Dr. Herbert Savel, who donated a number of his woodcarvings to SUNY Plattsburgh in 2008. Savel will be on hand to speak as well as sign copies of his book, “Kaddish in Wood: Memorial Woodcarvings – The Children.” Savel's work may be seen on Internet at www.holocaustcarvings.com/index.asp.

During the program, Dr. Jonathan Slater, associate professor of communication studies and coordinator of the Judaic studies minor, will announce the launch of the Douglas R. Skopp Creative Competition on the Theme of the Holocaust. Students studying in all disciplines will be invited to submit their original work to a jury of college faculty and community members who will announce the winners in spring 2011. Skopp, a professor emeritus of history and college historian who helped create the Holocaust commemoration two decades ago, will be feted in a tribute by Dr. E. Thomas Moran, director, Institute for Ethics in Public Life.

The program will include a musical performance of Paul Ben Haim’s “Three Songs Without Words” by Associate Professor of Music Daniel Gordon (soprano saxophone) and Adjunct Lecturer Rose Chancler (piano). The duo will later be joined by soprano and Adjunct Lecturer Sophie Bjerke, singing “I Never Saw Another Butterfly,” a musical setting by Lori Laitman of a poem written by Pavel Freedman, a child murdered by the Nazis in Auschwitz.

The Days of Remembrance is free and open to the public.