By Norman Peckham
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Never forget.
This is the message that will be heard for the next few days as the University of Arizona's Hillel Foundation holds its second annual Conference on the Holocaust.
The saying "never forget" is meant to remind people of the Holocaust and to prevent future tragedies like it from happening, said Michelle Rubin, program director for the Hillel Foundation.
The conference started Friday.
"We would like (the conference) to be educational for the entire campus," Rubin said. "We hope people take the knowledge of the holocaust into their lives."
Besides educating people about the Jewish experience during the Holocaust, the conference will focus attention on non-Jewish groups who were victims, said Molly Frederick, who chaired Hillel's Holocaust Commemoration Committee.
Those groups include homosexuals, gypsies and the handicapped, Frederick said.
Michelle Blumenberg, Hillel's director, also said she hopes the conference will make people more willing to speak out against things they know are wrong.
"Certainly, had people spoken out at the time (of the Holocaust), then the world would be a different place," Blumenberg said.
The conference could also help bring attention to ethnic fighting in Bosnia-Herzegovina, she said.
The Irving and Sarah Pitt Campus Creativity Grant, a $1,500 grant awarded through the national Hillel Foundation, is helping to pay the costs of some of this year's conference, Rubin said.
The grant was awarded to Hillel for its efforts to collect names from Tucson residents who know of people who died in the Holocaust, Rubin said.
The names will be read on the UA Mall at a memorial vigil from noon on Tuesday until 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Rubin said. In addition to the memorial vigil, other events will take place as part of this week's conference.
Today at 7 p.m., in the Hillel Foundation, 1245 E. 2nd St., a free screening of the film "The Truth Shall Make Us Free" will be held. The film, which addresses the resurgence of Nazism in Germany, will be followed with a talk by UA English Professor J. Douglas Canfield, who will speak about "hate culture," Rubin said.
Thomas Keneally, the author of "Schindler's List," will speak at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Jewish Community Center and Temple Emanu-El, Rubin said. Tickets are $12 for the public and $5 for students with identification cards.
Thursday, the final day of the conference, Solomon Perel will speak at 7:30 p.m. in Harvill 150. Perel's Holocaust survival story was the basis of the German movie "Europa Europa." Admission to the speech is free, but is on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Money collected from this week's conference will help pay the costs of next year's conference, Rubin said.