The former site of the Auschwitz II-Birkenau concentration camp. {Photo by Sharon Aron Baron}
By Agrippina Fadel
Chabad Jewish Center in Coral Springs offers a rare opportunity to hear a first-hand account of survival against all odds at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
Irene Zisblatt, the only one of her 40 family members to survive, was featured in the 1998 Academy Award-winning documentary The Last Days by Steven Spielberg. She published her autobiography The Fifth Diamond in 2008.
Born in the Carpathian Mountains in modern Ukraine, Zisblatt was only 15 when she arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau and was repeatedly selected for testing by Josef Mengele, “the Angel of Death,” who performed deadly experiments on prisoners. After the war, she was adopted by an American family and now lives in Broward County.
Held on Sunday, June 25, the event is $18 for adults and $10 for teenagers and students.
Rabbi Yankie Denburg said the lecture is open to the entire community, with no religious affiliation needed.
“Any caring human being who wants to ensure that genocide against innocent people never happens again should do everything they can to attend this lecture and hear Irene’s story,” he said.
Holocaust Survivor Irene Zisblatt {Courtesy Chabad Jewish Center}
Rabbi Denburg added that such events are especially important for the younger generation who did not grow up hearing stories about the Holocaust as often, which is why Chabad is offering a discounted ticket price for students.
“When I was a child, the candy man in our synagogue who would give all the kids who came to pray a bag of candy was a Holocaust survivor with the numbers on his arm,” said Rabbi Denburg. “Today, the opportunity to hear and see these heroes who survived the most impossible odds has become rarer and rarer. Sadly, that opportunity will soon be gone forever.”
Chabad Jewish Center is located at 11325 West Atlantic Blvd. Register online or purchase tickets at the door. Guests are invited to breakfast at 10.30 a.m., followed by the lecture at 11 a.m.
“It is our moral obligation to keep these stories alive,” said Rabbi Denburg.
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