Idaho State University to hold Days of Remembrance Memorial April 11 honoring victims of Holocaust

The Idaho State University Department of History will host a Days of Remembrance ceremony at 6 p.m. April 11 commemorating victims of the Holocaust.

The inaugural Holocaust memorial lecture and survivor testimony will take place in the ISU Rendezvous Complex, Planetarium Room 203. This event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited.

This public gathering will coincide with the National Days of Remembrance, coordinated by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and is the first of what organizers hope to be an annual event.

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum has designated "Never Again: Heeding the Warning Signs" as the theme for this year.

"The 2013 Days of Remembrance is an opportunity to look back 75 years, when momentous changes were occurring in Europe, and to examine the responses of citizens and countries to the signs of impending war and the Holocaust," says United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Director Sara J. Bloomfield. "The dangers of indifference remain with us, and understanding and acting on the lessons of what happened then are vitally important."

Justin Dolan Stover, a lecturer in the department of history, and Tyffnee Stewart, an undergraduate student majoring in history, are organizing Idaho State University's event.

"This gathering will not only complement the broader national observance," Stover said, "but will help expose our community to living history."

With the help of the Oregon Holocaust Resource Center, Stover and Stewart have invited two Holocaust survivors to address the commemoration. Stover's long-term goal in establishing a Holocaust memorial event is, as he explains, "to provide an interactive public platform upon which Second World War veterans and Holocaust survivors can share their experiences, and to digitally preserve testimony from these individuals for future generations of students and scholars."

The Idaho Humanities Council and the ISU Office of Sponsored Programs have provided generous supported for this event, and the organizers wish to acknowledge their support.

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