Holocaust Remembrance Week is a very powerful event for the campus community, according to Jewish Student Association President Cheryl Saferstein.
"I think its one of the most important series that our club puts on throughout the year," Saferstein said.
JSA hosted a week of events to remember the Holocaust, which began with a Holocaust remembrance Shabbat service Friday night, according to Holocaust Remembrance Week Chair Rachel Regberg. Holocaust survivor Charlene Schiff spoke in Ward 1 Sunday.
Saferstein said she thought the speech was particularly moving because the population of Holocaust survivors has decreased - something she said people don't want to talk about.
"It's really scary to think that my children won't be able to have the same first-hand accounts that I had," she said.
Saferstein said she heard Schiff speak during Holocaust Remembrance Week last year, but liked hearing new stories this year.
JSA co-sponsored "The G-Word: Defining Atrocity" on Monday with Darfur Action and sponsored a trip to the Holocaust Museum Tuesday. On Wednesday, JSA members read the names of Holocaust victims in front of Kay Spiritual Life Center.
Today, the group will screen the film "Paper Clips," which tells the story of a Tennessee school that collected six million paper clips to represent the number of Jews who died during the Holocaust, Regberg said.
JSA will participate in a similar project to collect six million pennies, which they will donate to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Israel, according to Regberg.
The group will also contribute decorative paper butterflies, which students made on the quad, to a sculpture at Houston's Holocaust museum, Saferstein said. The sculpture will feature 1.5 million butterflies to represent the children who died during the Holocaust.
"We're really proud and happy that the AU community is able to have a hand in making the sculpture," she said.
JSA hosts Shabbats, speakers and social events throughout the year, but Holocaust Remembrance Week is the biggest event it sponsor, according to Saferstein.
"We want all the student on campus to remember the Holocaust," she said. "It's a huge part of Jewish history, a huge part of our identity"
