By LAMECH JOHNSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
ljohnson@tribunemedia.net
A HOLOCAUST survivor’s story will be told at the College of the Bahamas with the hope that his message of moving past hatred can resonate with the local community.
Walter Absil, who is Jewish and originally from Austria, fled the country with his family at the beginning of the Second World War.
His story of survival, endurance and hope amid the atrocities of war will be shared on Wednesday evening at 6pm.
Dr Mayuri Deka, assistant professor and coo-rdinator of the Bachelor of Arts in English, told The Tribune yesterday that the event, hosted by the School of English Studies, is something that the local community needs, with crime and violence continuing to escalate.
“His focus is about reconciliation and not hatred. It’s about moving ahead despite what he had to endure,” Dr Deka said.
“I think it is very important for the College of the Bahamas to have this story to be told here for the community to hear. It’s a very important message that the community and all of us can resonate with considering the current levels of crime, violence, despair and hatred.
“The event, which will be held in the auditorium of the Harry C Moore Library, is open to the public and we are encouraging persons of all ages to be present to share in Mr Absil’s powerful story,” she added.
Mr Absil lived in Belgium during the war, when his parents were captured by the Gestapo and sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. They were gassed immediately upon arrival.
Two years ago, at the then-Sheraton Hotel, Holocaust survivor Rena Finder gave a first-hand account of her horrific experiences and subsequent salvation in Nazi-occupied Germany.
The plight of Ms Finder and fellow survivors, along with the bravery of German industrialist Oskar Schindler, inspired Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List.
The Academy Award winning film dramatised the lives of Holocaust survivors employed by Oskar Schindler during World War II. Schindler used his wealth and influence to save the lives of 1,300 Jewish men, women and children.
Ms Finder recounted her childhood in Poland, the Krakow ghetto, life in the Nazi death camp Auschwitz and ultimately her story of survival in Schindler’s factory.
Comments
sheeprunner12 10 years, 1 month ago
No disrespect............... but didnt dese ppl get dey reparations?????????????????
But Negroes must get past their hatred????????????? WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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