Kean’s Holocaust Resource Center Holds Testimony Tuesdays in Honor
By Adaora Nnakwe | Published November 1, 2022
Kean University honors its 40th anniversary of the Holocaust Resource Center in hosting a bi-weekly Testimony Tuesdays event in the Visor Lab at the Nancy Thompson Library. Testimony Tuesdays is a program event that showcases Holocaust survivors, liberators, and rescuers giving their testimonies as a historical feature to the Holocaust Resource Center.
Students can visit the event to research and learn about the Holocaust survivors from watching their shared testimonies for personal or educational purposes which can help those get a better understanding of the history.
On Oct. 11, Testimony Tuesdays featured a taped interview featuring Luna Kaufman, a Holocaust survivor, author, and speaker. The 1983 interview held by Dr. Sidney Langer discussed Kaufman’s childhood before World War II and the German invasion of Poland. Kaufman reflected on her parents, life before and during the war, and the loss of her 45 family members that were killed during the Holocaust.
Sarah Coykendall, M.A., managing assistant director of Holocaust Resource Center brings forward the passion to connect the history of the Holocaust with today’s world.
“Holocaust education is a fundamental component of combating this hatred. The fight against antisemitism is not easy, but is necessary for our shared humanity,” Coykendall said.
According to Adara Goldberg, Ph.D., director of Holocaust Resource Center, the Holocaust was the systematic state-sponsored murder of six million Jews and approximately two-thirds of all Jews in pre-World War II Europe by Nazi Germany and its allies and collaborators.
“As such, I encourage students to remember that each of the six million people whose lives were stolen had a name, a family, hopes, and dreams. They are not merely a statistic,” Goldberg said. “Events like Testimony Tuesdays help to humanize the experience of the Holocaust and promote empathy, understanding, and awareness of the experience of the other in students.”
Holocaust survivor Laura Kaufman is one of the 3.5 million survivors of the Holocaust and her voice helps speak for the millions who are silent to come forward and instead suppress the painful memories.
Many survivors like Kaufman are resilient and have made a better life for themselves through higher education and successful careers in hopes of a better future. With antisemitism still prevalent, it’s important to educate students of the history on the Holocaust and the stories behind it.
“One thing that I want students to know when they learn about this history is that antisemitism existed before, during, and after the Holocaust,” Coykendall said.