By Michelle Roberts
Arizona Daily Wildcat
"Rivka Dubno. Father David. Age 50. Born in Warsaw, Poland. Died in the Warsaw Ghetto 1942. Robert Einhorn. Father Max Einhorn. Age 5. Born in Vienna, Austria. Death place unknown. Died in 1940.
"Yacov Konskovski. Father Chaim. Age 20. Born in Warsaw, Poland. Died in a forest in Poland 1943."
There were 22,000 names read off in a similar manner as the third annual Conference on the Holocaust began on Monday. Most of the names came from the Holocaust Memorial in Israel, but several hundred were provided by students, faculty and community members, who had friends or relatives that were killed.
Names were read non-stop by approximately 250 different people over a 24-hour period.
Several of the names read were relatives of Molly Frydrych, a interdisciplinary studies sophomore at the University of Arizona and the chair of the committee that organized the conference.
"A large part of my family died. My grandparents and uncle were survivors, so I feel very strongly about passing (the memory) on," said Frydrych about why she got involved with organizing the events.
The conference events, which mark the 50th anniversary of liberation of the World War II concentration camps, are intended to educate everyone on campus, not only the Jewish community, Frydrych said.
Laura Henry, a special education rehabilitation sophomore, also read several names at the vigil.
"I'm Jewish. (The Holocaust) touches me be-
cause half the people who passed away were Jews. The Holocaust was directed at humanity. Continuing the memory preserves the Holocaust and serves as a constant reminder to not let it happen again," Henry said.
Communications freshman Alisha Eisenstock, who is also Jewish, said she had some family members who died in the Holocaust. She said her mother has studied the Holocaust, and she became interested in it because of her mom's research.
"This happened just 50 years ago. Events like this is the only way the memory will stay alive. We're the last generation to hear survivors speak. It will happen again unless we keep the memories alive," Eisenstock said.
An estimated 12 million people, 6 million of whom were Jewish, were killed in the Holocaust.
About 35 people, both students and speakers, are involved in the week of events. The 24-hour vigil ended yesterday at 1 p.m. An art performance and vigil was held on Monday night.
Yesterday Susannah Heschel, an associate professor of Judaic studies at Case Western University, spoke about the role of the Christian church and the Third Reich.
Today Heschel will speak at a brown-bag lunch at the Hillel Center at noon. Tomorrow evening at 7 p.m. Dr. Brendan Phibbs, a UA medical school faculty member, will speak about his experiences as a U.S. Army medic entering a concentration camp directly following the German defeat.
On Friday, March 31, there will be a Shabbat service and dinner with local Holocaust survivors at Hillel. On Sunday, April 2, the Bridge Ensemble will be performing music by Jewish composers at the Southwest Center for Music.