As part of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Memorial Day, members of the Elon community gathered April 12 for a film screening about two Holocaust survivors, Rachel Kizhnerman and Shelly Weiner, who are Jewish and also cousins.
The film, “Return To Rivne: A Holocaust Story,” displayed visuals which showed what their childhood in Rivne was like, where they hid during the war and what it was like to return to the Ukraine province.
Kizhnerman and Weiner engaged in a discussion led by Betsy Polk, director of Hillel, in which they were asked questions about their experiences, and were able to deliver their message about the importance of Holocaust remembrance.
“We have a responsibility to make sure when we see things happening that are hard to speak up,” Weiner said. “I know that we can’t all be like Mother Teresa or Gandhi, but we can affect the people around us.”
Kizhnerman and Weiner, who emigrated to the United States between the years of 1970-1980 and now live in Greensboro, were contacted through the Greensboro Jewish Federation.
Though they have been living in the country for years now, freedom still sometimes shocks them.
“When we came to America, it was a free world,” Kizhnerman said. “Grocery store was a shock — anything you wanted to buy, you could buy.”
The event was cosponsored by Elon’s department of history and geography, the office of the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and the center for the study of religion, culture and society.
Andrea Sinn, assistant professor of history, cohosted the event and shared what it means to have done it.
“These are opportunities that I try to create for everyone in our community because it brings the importance of remembering and the responsibility back to our present lives” Sinn said.
Polk, too, encouraged students to attend events like this one to enrich their learning experiences.
“It’s easy to read a history book, but to hear real stories and real people, and to have that vibrancy in a story, is really what matters,” Polk said.