Survival, resilience and remembrance take center stage as Slippery Rock University hosts its Holocaust Remembrance Program from March 10–12, bringing the community together for three powerful events that honor the human spirit through film, music, live testimony and theatrical performance.
- March 10 is “Three Girls from Shanghai,” a screening of a film at 12:30 p.m. in the Smith Student Center Theater.
- March 11 is “Witness to the Holocaust: Survivor Erika Taubner Gold,” the live testimony preceded by a music performance from 3:30-5:15 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center’s Miller Theater.
- March 12 is “The Singer of Shanghai,” a theatrical performance at 12:30 p.m. in the Smith Student Center Theater.
“Three Girls from Shanghai” is a film written by Kari-Anne Innes, an SRU assistant professor of theatre, and Kevin Ostoyich, a history professor at Valparaiso University, that follows the story of three women growing up in Shanghai during World War II.
Holocaust survivor Erika Taubner Gold will share her personal story after the event opens with a musical performance by Kathleen Melago, SRU professor of curriculum, instruction, educational leadership, and Nate Presutti, a senior music education major from Clinton (West Allegheny HS). Born in 1932 in Budapest, Hungary, Gold endured the German occupation of her homeland and will speak about her experiences surviving the Holocaust.
Eric Tuten, SRU assistant professor of history and director of SRU’s Holocaust Remembrance Program, emphasized the urgency of hearing directly from survivors.
“I think it’s important that everybody takes advantage of listening to survivors because they are quickly fading,” Tuten said. “Those who were adults during the Holocaust have almost all passed away. Now, we’re listening to child survivors or even hidden child survivors.”
Hidden child survivors are those who were infants or young children during the war and were concealed or protected in order to survive. Many, Tuten noted, remained silent about their experiences for decades.
“Some survivors have never said anything about the war. They never wanted to talk about it,” Tuten said. “These hidden survivors have stories to tell, so take advantage of it while you can. Try to listen to someone who actually survived it.”
The three days of programming concludes with a theatrical performance of “The Singer of Shanghai” with SRU students as cast members. Based on research collected by Kevin Ostovich and written in 2019 by SRU students under the direction of Innes, the production tells the story of the Abraham family’s escape from the Holocaust, further emphasizing the program’s focus on remembrance through storytelling.
All Holocaust Remembrance Programs are free and open to the public.
