Chabad UF will host Auschwitz Survivor Helga Melmed on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Jan. 27

Press release from Chabad UF Jewish Student & Community Center

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Chabad UF Jewish Student & Community Center will host a historic evening of hope, inspiration, and spirit with Auschwitz Survivor Helga Melmed on January 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The event will be held at 7:30 p.m. at the Chabad UF Jewish Student & Community Center (2021 NW 5th Avenue) and will also feature a musical performance including the stirring theme from “Schindler’s List.”

Admission is free (donations are appreciated), but attendees must RSVP by clicking this link.

Helga Melmed, born in Berlin, Germany, in 1928, will share her story; the desperate conditions she endured during the reign of the Nazi regime and her fight to stay alive in the most infamous death camp, Auschwitz, and other hard labor camps. After liberation at sixteen years of age, she weighed only forty-six lbs. and was completely alone in a foreign country. Despite the horrors and suffering she endured in her life, Helga refuses to let hatred live in her heart, as she shares her inspirational and courageous story and indomitable spirit with audiences around the world. Melmed said, ““As a child I didn’t understand what was happening,… the hatred, the violence, then as a teenager, the labor camps, the gas ovens. Eighty years later, I’m here to tell you what happened.” 

This program was made possible with the support of Dr. Mark & Jennifer Bleiweis and Vicki Santello. 

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