Holocaust Survivor to Share Her Experience
SUNY Plattsburgh’s Multicultural Alliance is joining forces with the Center for Student Involvement to bring Holocaust survivor Louise Lawrence-Israels to the Warren Ballrooms, Angell College Center, 7 p.m., Monday, March 31.
Allison Swick-Duttine, director of organization development and fraternity and sorority life, said the student coordinators of the Multicultural Alliance chose to bring Lawrence-Israels to SUNY Plattsburgh to share not only the story of her life as a young girl during the Holocaust but how that experience shaped who she became as an adult.
Lawrence-Israels was born in Haarlem, Netherlands, in 1942. In January 1943, she and her family were ordered to move to Amsterdam and shortly thereafter went into hiding to escape deportation. Her father managed to acquire false identification papers and rent a top-floor apartment for the family. Her parents tried to give their children as normal a childhood as possible, playing, learning colors, letters and songs.
“The students in the Alliance realize that the opportunities to hear these stories directly from these survivors is growing rarer by the day,” Swick-Duttine said, “and they felt it was important for the campus and community to have this opportunity while it was still available.”
The Multicultural Alliance is a group of student organizations, fraternities/sororities and leaders who coordinate programming and initiatives on issues of multiculturalism, diversity and social justice on the SUNY Plattsburgh campus.
For more information, contact Swick-Duttine at 518-564-4825 or [email protected].