Holocaust remembrance ...the hidden children

| 30 Sep 2011 | 08:05

    A community event at the Pocono Community Theater EAST STROUDSBURG — The Pocono Community Theater will host a community event, “Holocaust Remembrance…The Hidden Children” on Thursday, April 8, from 7 to 9 p.m. and again on Sunday, April 11, 7 to 9 p.m. The Pocono Community Theater is located at 88 South Courtland Street, East Stroudsburg. The evening begins with a documentary film about Tom Breslauer, who was a local resident and Holocaust survivor, readings by survivors who were Hidden Children in Hungary during the Holocaust, and there will be an interactive panel discussion. This community event will be free for all participants. Breslauer was a long-time resident of Stroudsburg. Participants will experience the Holocaust through his telling, how life changed overnight when the Nazis took over the German government. He became a “non-person”, a concentration camp prisoner and later was able to escape from Germany to England and then to the U.S. After the film, the audience will hear from survivors who were “Hidden Children” in Hungary. They will read excerpts from “Remember Us,” a book of children’s memories from the Holocaust, written by members of the Hungarian Hidden Children of New York, Inc. (HHC). Thirty Jewish Hungarian men and women, who survived the Holocaust as children in hiding, relate memories of their trauma filled childhood. These are not the horror tales of the Holocaust that so much has been written about, rather glimpses, sudden visions that pop into a child’s mind when the word “Holocaust” is heard. Evi Blaikie, published author and contributing editor of Remember Us, will provide an overview of Hungary during the Holocaust and the Hidden Children. Survivors including: Susan Kalev, a social worker; Tamas Revai, a CPA; Suzanne Nash, a retired insurance executive, and Dr. Susan Bendor, Professor of Social work, at Yeshiva University will read excerpts from the book. An interactive panel discussion will follow the readings. Dr. Brian Alnutt, Assistant Professor of History, Northhampton Community College, will join the panel discussion. The Holocaust Remembrance…The Hidden Children event takes place right before and on the Holocaust Remembrance Day, also known as Yom H’Shoah, which is on Sunday, April 11th this year. This is one day set aside each year when those who suffered, fought and died during the Holocaust are especially remembered. “Remember Us: A Collection of Memories from Hungarian Hidden Children of the Holocaust” is available for $25 at Josephine’s Fleur-de-lis, 601 Main Street, Stroudsburg or during the event at the Pocono Community Theater. For more information call 570-476-7909 About the Holocaust Six million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. In addition, five million others were murdered during the Holocaust: three million Polish Catholics and Christians, including thousands of Catholic priests and Christian pastors, half a million Eastern European Gypsies, tens of thousands of homosexuals, people with handicaps, members of religious groups who did not believe in the Nazi ideology, such as Jehovah Witnesses, as well as German citizens who refused to go along with Hitler’s plan.