UNCA to Hold Holocaust Education Week with a Variety of Programs

UNC Asheville will hold Holocaust Education Week April 22-29 with a variety of cultural programs. Among the highlights will be a reading of Holocaust victims' names from April 22-24 from 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. sponsored in conjunction with Western North Carolina Hillel. Asheville community members will join UNCA students, faculty and staff to continuously read Holocaust victims' manes. To participate, register online. All events are free and open to the public.

Other events include:

-- Elizabeth Snyder will present a lecture on "Haunted by Heimat, In Search of the Holy Land: Identity in Exile in the Poetry of Nelly Sachs and Else Lasker-Schüler." The talk will be held at 12:15 p.m. Tuesday, April 22, in UNCA's Laurel Forum, located on the main floor of Karpen Hall.

Snyder's presentation will focus on the conflict between national and religious/cultural identities as represented in the poetry of German-speaking Jewish writers and émigrés Nelly Sachs and Else Lasker-Schüler.

-- Jewish studies expert Robert Melson will give a talk on his family's survival of the Holocaust at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 24, at UNC Asheville's Owen Conference Center. His talk, the 2003 Phyllis Freed Sollod Memorial Lecture, is presented by UNCA's Center for Jewish Studies.

The story of Melson and his family's survival during the Holocaust is told "False Papers," which was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. The Phyllis Freed Sollod Annual Memorial Lecture is made possible through an endowment established by Norman Sollod in memory of his wife, who was an active leader in the Asheville Jewish Community.

-- Ken Bestalel, chair and associate professor of the political science department, will screen the film "The Quarrel," with a discussion to follow. The event will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 29, in the Laurel Forum, located on the main floor of Karpen Hall.

Related Events:

-- The Center for Diversity Education will sponsor the showing of "The Shoah Survivor Testimony" at 1 p.m. on April 27 and May 4, 11 and 18 at the Jewish Community Center.

-- Beth Israel Synagogue will host a community-wide service for Yom Ha-Shoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) at 7 p.m. Monday, April 28. The Beth Israel Synagogue is located at 229 Murdock Ave.

For more information, contact Richard Chess, UNCA Center for Jewish Studies Director, at 828/251-6576.

Media Contacts:

• Dr. Richard Chess, UNCA Center for Jewish Studies Director, 828/251-6576
• Jill Yarnall, UNCA Public Information Assistant Director, 828/251-6526