Students Supporting Israel to Bring in Holocaust Survivor

Holocaust survivor Felix Weil will be at Cedarville University on April 7 to share his experience of the tragedy.

The Students Supporting Israel org is hosting the event in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day, which falls later this month.

Weil was sent away with other Jewish children before his parents and sister were sent to concentration camps. Weil’s family members eventually died there.

Weil has lived in Dayton, Ohio, since 1950, and he worked in the art business. He is now retired, but he still lives in Dayton with his wife, Frances. They have two children and one grandchild.

“Having someone talk about a significant historical event helps make people aware of the culture,” said Kaitlyn Sturm, president of Students Supporting Israel.

Learning about the culture of Israel must involve talking about its recent history and part of that is the Holocaust, Sturm said.

Isaac Kurtz, the org’s advisor, said he encourages students to come hear Weil speak because we must realize that the Holocaust actually happened.

“Some people downplay it or say it didn’t happen, but it happened to a whole nation,” Kurtz said.

Kurtz said learning about the Holocaust goes beyond recognizing that it happened. He said that we must see the danger because it could happen again.

Both Kurtz and Sturm said we are running out of chances to get first-hand information from survivors of the Holocaust.

“The best way to tell a story is to bring someone in who went through it, who saw it, who felt it, who smelled it,” Kurtz said.

Because his grandparents were Holocaust survivors, but refuse to talk about the event, Kurtz said that getting someone to talk about it is almost a once-in-a-lifetime event.

Kurtz said Students Supporting Israel wants to make people aware of the culture by talking about one of the most important things that happened to the people of Israel.

Weil will speak at 7 p.m. on Monday, April 7, in the Alford Auditorium. The org will also have a presentation table set up in the SSC from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. that day.

Maya Palmisciano is a sophomore technical and professional communication major and reporter for Cedars. Music, especially her clarinet, is her second love (next to writing, of course!).