MEOR@Emory and Emory Students for Israel (ESI) commemorated the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht, a 1938 series of coordinated attacks against Jews in Europe by Nazis, on Sunday evening.

Holocaust survivor, Paula Gris, and Chief Political Correspondent and Analyst for The Jerusalem Post, Gil Hoffman, spoke to a group of students in the Winship Ballroom about their experiences and connections to the Holocaust.

According to College sophomore Aaron Karas, ESI’s executive board member at-large, it is important for Emory Students for Israel to hold an event like this one because the Holocaust is a large part of Jewish history.

“It is important to share the words of Holocaust survivors with everyone, also because it’s a large Jewish ideal to prevent genocide or anything like the Holocaust to happen again,” Karas said.

Kristallnacht – also referred to as the Night of Broken Glass – occurred on Nov. 9-10, 1938 in Germany and parts of Austria. According to Gris, at least 91 Jews were killed and 30,000 were deported to concentration camps around Europe by the paramilitary of the Nazi Party.

“I think that Kristallnacht, more than anything else, was a wake-up call,” Gris said.

Gris described her childhood while growing up in Eastern Europe during the late 1930s.

“The war was over there,” she said, referring to her initial perception that the war was contained in Nazi Germany and did not reach the rest of Europe.

When Gris was three years old, her father was arrested in her childhood hometown, which was then a part of Romania.

“Being a child survivor is a very strange thing, because as a child you’re not oriented to politics,” Gris said.

Her memories of the Holocaust became more salient as the violence escalated, especially the Romanian extermination of Jews in a place called Transnistria, where thousands of Jews were killed.

“To die in Auschwitz was easier than to die in Transnistria,” she said.

During her speech, Gris skipped over parts of her experience and paused during personal and emotional moments of her story.

“My story is harder to tell than the Germany story because it’s about me,” she said.

In 1941, Gris said she and her mother were deported to Transnistria, where her mother helped build roads for the German invasion of Stalingrad.

“There’s a good ending to that, actually, because I’m here,” she said. “That’s the best ending.”

Gris said she survived due to the inordinate amount of abuse her mother endured on a daily basis. She also described how she felt when her family was liberated.

“[The Russians] came right through our camp,” Gris said. “The Germans ran away, and our camp was left unguarded.”

She added that very few people survived. Gris was six years old when she, her mother and her sister returned home to see who else had survived.

“We practiced silence,” she said. “Inside of us, there was a scream that was never let out.”

The audience responded to Gris’s story, some of them tearing up during its most poignant moments.

“I got really emotional, and it really hits home for me because I know that this happened to my people and my ancestors,” Karas said.

Audience members who do not have ancestral ties to the Holocaust also said they found meaning in the event.

“Even though I could never personally relate to what [Gris] went through, I felt like she did a great job of making her story broad enough for everyone in the audience to understand,” College sophomore Jack Karras said. “I’m grateful to have seen her and heard her story, and think it’s great that Emory gave her a chance to speak in such an intimate environment.”

Hoffman, whose grandparents were Holocaust survivors, addressed the audience as an advocate for Israel and the Jewish people.

Hoffman said his grandmother was sent to Auschwitz, a Nazi concentration camp in Poland, and rarely spoke of her experiences later in her life.

However, after her death, he said his father found a picture of her in the section on recovery in Yad Vashem, Israel’s official museum and memorial to Holocaust victims.

Hoffman transitioned to the importance of remembering Kristallnacht.

“We are the victors over the Nazis,” Hoffman said. “We have a responsibility, and part of that responsibility is making people know, which is why it’s so important to have an event memorializing Kristallnacht 75 years later.”

As Hoffman’s speech progressed, he charged Jewish Americans with the moral obligation to be compassionate toward Jews and non-Jews alike.

“[Our responsibility is] also to be a moral voice to the world,” he said.

According of Hoffman, a component of this voice applies to Israel’s role in the current Middle Eastern political landscape, specifically in Syria.

“You’d think in Israel we wouldn’t be too upset about it because our enemies are killing our enemies,” Hoffman said. However, Israelis are unhappy about the 115,000 deaths in Syria, which, according to him, is a testament to the merciful nature of the Israeli people, he said.

According to Karas, Hoffman falls slightly right of the center on the ideological spectrum in terms of Israeli issues.

“One of ESI’s major goals is to support Israel and share its culture in a positive light,” Karas said. “Having speakers like Gil Hoffman is a pretty good fit for us.”

Hoffman also talked about Israel’s position on nuclear proliferation in the Middle East. Specifically, he cited Israel’s stance against Iran acquiring weapons of mass destruction.

“And here Israel is again – the moral voice – telling the world ‘you can’t let it happen,'” Hoffman said.

Hoffman concluded his speech with a statement of identity about the Jewish people. He said Israelis are a humanitarian force throughout the world.

“Good luck with carrying out that responsibility; good luck defending Israel on your college campus, telling people who we really are,” Hoffman said.

He concluded on a slightly lighter note, joking about Miley Cyrus visiting Israel and inviting the audience to ask questions.

“I think it is important to have speakers who highlight positivity in Israel and explain the importance of Israel’s actions,” Karas said of Hoffman’s speech.

– By Rupsha Basu

Photo by Michael Fier

Correction (11/12 at 11:10 a.m.): The article originally misidentified the speaker as Laura Gris. Her name is Paula Gris.

Correction (11/18 at 12:45 p.m.): The article originally reported that Emory Students for Israel hosted the event. MEOR@Emory organized the event and Emory Students for Israel co-sponsored it.

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