Holocaust survivor Max Glauben and an exhibit expansion centered around children of the Holocaust will provide a new viewpoint to this year’s Holocaust Museum, Hillel President Kyle Orth said.
Hillel is the organization for Jewish campus life at TCU and has organized the museum for four consecutive years.
“We’re planning on adding a bit more to the exhibit this year,” Orth, a sophomore piano performance major, said. “We should have some new sections on different topics to keep it fresh for people who have already been.”
The expansion would include greater coverage of children who suffered during the Holocaust, he said. Orth said he felt the Holocaust is a topic that is often forgotten, and the museum is something people should see.
A press release for the event defined the Holocaust as the genocide of approximately 6 million European Jews by Nazi Germany during World War II. The release said other victims of the Holocaust included Soviets, the Roma, the disabled and political or religious dissidents.
“It’s not necessarily a matter that people are ignorant,” he said. “We’re not doing this to reveal new information to people, but it’s a matter of just remembering and honoring those who have perished. We don’t want to forget and grow complacent.”
Arnold Barkman, Hillel adviser and an associate professor of accounting, said students who attended in previous years can expect a slight change in the lineup this year. This year’s guest speaker, Glauben, will have no problem captivating the audience, he said.
Glauben was born in 1928 in Warsaw, Poland, according to the release. He and his family were forced into the Warsaw Ghetto in 1939. Later, his family was transported to the Majdanek gas chambers and crematoriums, where most of his family died, according to the release.
Glauben and his father were selected to provide slave labor in a concentration camp and his father was killed three weeks later. Glauben was freed by the United States Army and moved to New York in 1947, according to the release.
Barkman said, “I have personally heard him talk and the way in which he describes his experiences, his use of language and his ability to grab people’s attention, makes him a great speaker.”
Orth said he thought the event was happening at a crucial time with the events that are taking place in the world today, such as the violence and political unrest in the Middle East, he said. People of this generation would be the ones that would have to stand in the gap if what happened at the Holocaust were to ever happen again, he said.
“And from the looks of what’s going on in the world today [in the Middle East], it is happening today,” he said. “It’s happening now.”
Hillel Holocaust Museum
When: 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday and Tuesday
Where: Brown-Lupton University Union – Room 3301 C and D
Admission is free and open to the public.