Love, Peace and Auschwitz, a free event sponsored by the Israeli Alliance at McNeese State University, is set for 5-7:30 p.m. today at the Holbrook Student Union auditorium.
Keynote speaker Nehemia Gordon will discuss the “Lost Scrolls of Auschwitz,” which archaeologists discovered buried in human ashes decades after World War II. The six scrolls describe the horrific conditions at Nazi death camps during the Holocaust and the final moments before Jews were forced into gas chambers.
Adam Harris is the founder and campus liaison for the McNeese Israeli Alliance, a pro-Israel student organization. He said a group of usually Jewish slaves, known as Sonderkommandos, or Special Squad, were forced to gather Jews from different villages and bring them to the death camps. They then had to bring the victims to the gas chambers and later remove and load the bodies into the crematorium to be burned.
Harris said the Sonderkommando kept notes and hid them anywhere they could, including bottles or flasks that were then buried with the ashes of human remains. He said Holocaust victims were recorded saying prayers and “keeping their faith and dignity” right before they were sent into the gas chambers.
“Their writing detailed the inner workings of what was going on in the death camps,” he said.
The goal of the event is to promote unity, despite differences in religious views, Harris said.
“No matter what, something like Auschwitz can never happen again,” he said.
Gordon, who has a master’s degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, hosts speaking events year-round and has authored several books.
Joe Aymond, founder of Out of Ashes Ministries in DeRidder, will discuss “Love and Peace.”
Officials with McNeese, the city of Lake Charles, along with representatives for Congressional leaders, will attend the event and present awards.
A Holocaust art exhibit will be displayed in the president’s dining area.
Online: www.mcneese.edu
‘No matter what, something like Auschwitz can never happen again.’
Adam Harris
Founder and campus liaison for the McNeese Israeli Alliance
