“A Walk to Remember” will be held on campus to honor Holocaust victims on Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Texas A&M Hillel, a Jewish campus organization, and Alpha Epsilon Pi, a Jewish fraternity, have partnered to host two back-to-back events for Holocaust Remembrance Day. There will be a solidarity walk in remembrance of the Holocaust and a name reading of thousands of victims after the walk.
The event will offer an opportunity to honor victims and think about the tragedies that have happened in the past as well as those going on currently, according to Rabbi Matt Rosenberg, executive director and campus rabbi of Hillel at Texas A&M.
“The Holocaust was the greatest tragedy of the 20th century,” Rosenberg said. “You would hope something like that never happens, yet we see the genocide in Rwanda or the current Syrian crisis. This event is to remind us to stand up as human beings and think of tragedies of the past and those happening right now.”
Economics senior and Alpha Epsilon Pi President Ryan Shulman said events like these are critical reminders of the past. He recently visited Auschwitz and said he was shocked to see the facts about the Holocaust were being questioned.
“It has been less than 100 years after the Holocaust and we have people saying it didn’t happen,” Shulman said. “We see rising anti-Semitism in Europe already. That’s why the Walk to Remember is so critical these days; some students don’t even know what has happened in our history.”
After the walk, students are welcome to attend the name reading service held from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.
“We will read names of a few thousand victims of the Holocaust as a way to remember those who perished,” Rosenberg said. “Sadly, that is barely a drop in the bucket of the names of all the victims.”
Chemical engineering junior and vice president of AEPi Bradley Tomes attended the event last year and said he had the chance to think about history like never before.
“The entire experience was really moving,” Tomes said. “Usually when I’m walking through campus I’m on my phone or I’m talking to someone, but during the walk it was completely silent. There were no distractions. It was the perfect situation to reflect and think about events of the past.”
In addition to being a reminder of the past, Rosenberg said Yom Hashoah is a time to understand that an incident like the Holocaust should be preventable in the 21st century.
“As a Jewish leader, it is important to put on an event like this,” Rosenberg said. “We need to look at what is going on in the world today and stand up for others to prevent something like this from happening again.”
Both organizations hope students participate in the events to remember the dead and gain a new, personal perspective on history.
“I hope that students can gain an understanding of the gravity of the holocaust and be able to prevent such a tragedy from happening in the future,” Tomes said.
The events will be on Monday, April 24 at Academic Plaza, starting with the walk around campus at noon. Participants are encouraged to wear all black.
