Holocaust Remembrance Events at OCC

The Ocean County College Center for Peace, Genocide, and Holocaust Studies will present a series of events for Holocaust Remembrance Week – April 16 to 20, OCC Main Campus, College Drive, Toms River.  The theme is You are the Future.  All events are free and open to the public.

On Monday, April 16 you can visit the Memorial Flag Display on the Main Campus Mall, which honors all victims of the Nazi Holocaust. 

Tuesday, April 17 at 12:30 p.m. in the Solar Lounge College Center (Building #15 Naomi Miller, singer/actress, will present You Are the Future.  This inspirational program will feature song, acting, personal narrative, and storytelling.  With tears and laughter, Miller will honor the culture and people who perished during the Holocaust in Eastern Europe.  Candle lighting ceremony and prayer will follow.  Light refreshments will be served.

Thursday, April 19 at 11:00 a.m., Room 203, Bartlett Hall (Building #5) is Revoir Les Enfants – film viewing and discussion with Judith Zinis, OCC Professor of English & Literature.  This 1987 film is the heartbreaking story of two boys living in Nazi-occupied France.  At a provincial Catholic boarding school, the precocious youths enjoy true camaraderie – until a secret is revealed.  Based on events from writer-director Louis Malle’s childhood, the film is a subtle, precisely observed tale of courage, cowardice, and tragic awakening.  French with English subtitles.  Light refreshments will be served.

Thursday, April 19 at 2:00 p.m., Room 203, Bartlett Hall (Building #5) is Chaim's Story – Dr. Ali Botein-Furrevig, OCC Assistant Professor of English and Literature, will read excerpts about local resident and Holocaust survivor Chaim Melzer, taken from her 2010 book Heart of the Stranger: A Portrait of Lakewood's Orthodox Community.

Thursday, April 19 at 2:45 p.m., Room 203, Bartlett Hall (Building #5) Out of the Ashes, Holocaust poetry readings by OCC Honor Students.

Thursday, April 19 at 6:30 p.m., Room B112, Arts & Community Center (Building #18) The Nasty Girl film viewing and discussion with Nathaniel Bard, OCC Instructor of Humanities.  This 1991 film is the story of a German high school student who writes an essay about her town's history during the Third Reich … and the town’s resistance to it.  To her dismay, and more so the town's, she uncovers definite collaboration during the period.  As she digs deeper, she must struggle against the town's vocal and violent opposition to her search for the truth.  German with English subtitles.

Thursday, April 19 at 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Room B100, Black Box Theater, Arts & Community Center (Building #18) Dr. Maura Cullen: Cross-cultural Coalition Building – Bias Awareness Training.  This full day of workshops features: “Dumb Things Well-Intended People Say / 10 Skills to Increase Your Diversity Competence,” “Taking Adversity out of Diversity / Building Inclusive Organizations,” and “Mr. Fix-It & Friends Go to Diversity Training.”  A light reception will be served.  Sponsored by OCC’s Office of Student Life and Office of Multicultural Services, and the Ocean County Human Relations Commission.  For information, call the Office of Multicultural Services at 732-255-0400, ext. 2026.

Friday, April 20 at 9:00 a.m., Room B100, Black Box Theater, Arts & Community Center (Building #18) You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught – OCC Theatre & Choral Group under the direction of Dr. Beth Brierley, OCC Associate Professor of Humanities, will present songs and readings on confronting hatred and promoting human dignity.  A brief video from the U.S. Holocaust Museum, Washington, DC, will be viewed.  Candle lighting ceremony will be held to close out the week’s events.

For information, contact Dr. Ali Botein-Furrevig, Assistant Professor of English and Literature at Ocean County College, 732-255-0400, ext. 2368, or abotein-furrevig@ocean.edu.