Hillel at Texas A&M will host a Holocaust survivor talk with Max Glauben of Dallas on Tuesday, Nov. 1.
Hillel at Texas A&M, one of the oldest Jewish campus organizations in the United States, brings Holocaust survivors to campus once every semester and this fall Glauben, who endured the Warsaw Ghetto, the Majdanek, Mielec, Wieliczka, Budzyn and Flossenburg concentration camps, will share his message with the public. The free event will be located in the Memorial Student Center in room 2300 D&E, at 7 p.m.
For a raw image of history, Glauben will speak about what his experiences were like during the genocide that we know as the Holocaust.
“The catastrophe that was the Holocaust was a unique tragedy in world history and unfortunately the number of survivors of that are dwindling,” said Rabbi Matt Rosenberg, campus Rabbi and Executive Director of Hillel. “This is probably for many people, a once in a life-time opportunity to hear from a survivor of the Holocaust right here on campus.”
Through this event, the Jewish community at Texas A&M is looking forward to informing more students who are on the outside looking in.
“I hope that we will have as many attendees as possible. I’d love to fill the room at the MSC with 500 people,” said Rosenberg. “I want to share Mr. Glauben’s message and the message of the Holocaust with as many people as we possibly can.”
Delaney Becker, Glauben’s granddaughter will be in attendance. Becker, allied health senior, is heavily involved in the Jewish community in College Station and serves as president of Chabad at Texas A&M.
“He’s going to be able to experience the Aggie community and their hospitality and see why I love being an Aggie,” said Becker. “He gets to tell his story to the Aggies who have never heard a Holocaust speaker before. There is nothing you will ever hear like it.”
Becker and many other people of the Jewish faith have had the importance of the Holocaust history instilled in them at young ages.
“It’s hard to hear but it’s important that I hear it and pass it along to all of my peers in College Station,” said Becker. “I think it’s very important for the community to hear what happened so that they can remember and they can pass it on to their friends and children. If it’s not passed on it’s going to be forgotten.”
Despite the small population of Jewish students at Texas A&M, both Becker and Rosenberg, have high hopes to continue telling the story of the Holocaust.
“The Jewish community at Texas A&M is fairly small. Most of our Jewish students grow up learning about the Holocaust,” said Rosenberg. “For us at the Hillel this is more of a community service opportunity to spread information about the Holocaust with the greater community; to let them know about demagoguery, the fascism and why again this is so very important.
As president of Chabad, Becker works closely with Hillel throughout the year to help create a more inclusive climate for Jewish students. She is expecting a great turn-out of people who are prepared to ask any questions they may have on Tuesday night.
“I really hope that we have a full house of students who really want to listen and want to know what happened,” said Becker. “It would be really awesome to have people there that can hear the story and pass on some kind of a message. It’s very important that they’re educated on the Holocaust and on what happened.”
Rosenberg is putting in efforts to make Texas A&M a university who is more representative of the Jewish faith.
“The Jewish population at Texas A&M is the smallest percentage wise among any major research university in the country,” said Rosenberg. “We are the minority among minorities. I don’t feel like Texas A&M has been doing enough to increase inclusion of Jewish students and to recruit Jewish students. I hope we change that with university partnership.”
