By
Anastasia Ching
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Names of more than 22,000 men, women and children who died read in memory
Sonia Ekshtein, age 5. Bela Goldman, age 17. Yakov Dikerman, age 4.
Students remembered these youngsters and other men, women and children who died in the Holocaust yesterday during a memorial vigil on the UA Mall.
Hillel's ninth annual conference on the Holocaust began a week of events memorializing the Holocaust, or the Shoah, with a 25-hour ceremony during which anyone passing by could read a few of the more than 22,000 names of victims.
The theme of this year's conference, "From Darkness to Light: Finding Hope and Tolerance," embodies the message that Rebecca Sodomsky, chair of the conference and a creative writing and Spanish sophomore, hopes to send to the campus community.
"Our goal is to increase tolerance around campus," Sodomsky said. "We hope that an event like this gets people's attention and raises awareness."
David Cohen, a music senior, was just walking by when he noticed friends of his from Hillel and decided to read in the vigil.
"I'm Jewish, and I have a lot of family members who died in the Holocaust," Cohen said. "They asked me if I wanted to read names, and I was more than happy to help out."
The vigil, which started at noon yesterday and lasts through noon today, attracts people all through the night, Sodomsky said.
"You'd be surprised," she said. "People come by at 3 a.m. and want to read names."
In addition to the name reading, Hillel members displayed posters depicting pictures of Holocaust victims as well as historical information.
Ann Petrasek, a senior office specialist in the animal sciences department, said she peruses the poster display and listens to the names every year.
"It always makes your heart feel heavy," she said. "I'm glad Hillel does this - we have to keep the memories of these tragedies alive so we don't ever forget what happened."
