Kennesaw State University to present Holocaust Commemoration April 12

Sixty years ago, battle-hardened American and Allied troops encountered horrors beyond anything they had encountered on the battlefields. As they marched through Germany and Eastern Europe, they were met with the undeniable evidence of the mass genocide that was the Holocaust.

On April 12, the Kennesaw State University College of the Arts will mark the anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps with a special Holocaust Commemoration at KSU Center, located at 3333 Busbee Parkway in Kennesaw. Presented in cooperation with the Georgia Holocaust Commission, the event will feature art presentations and music and dance performances to honor the victims, survivors and liberators of the Nazi concentration camps. The event is free and open to the public.

The Holocaust Commemoration will feature historical and art exhibitions, a performance by Atlanta Symphony Orchestra cellist Brad Ritchie and a collaborative performance of “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” by the KSU Women’s Ensemble and the Georgia Ballet.

“At previous commemorative events, we realized the extraordinary power of the arts to bring understanding and healing,” said Joseph Meeks, dean of the College of the Arts. “After 60 years, we are drawing nearer the day when we will no longer be able to benefit from direct conversations with Holocaust survivors, which makes it all the more important to bring people together for an event like this.”

The evening begins at 6:30 p.m. with a reception and viewing of the “Anne Frank in the World” exhibition, which opened at Kennesaw State in 2002. Using more than 600 photographs and 8,000 words of text, this exhibition tells the story of well-known diarist Anne Frank and her family, following them from freedom in 1920s Germany, to exile in the Netherlands, to hiding in a secret annex above her father's business in Amsterdam and, finally, to death in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

Guests also will be able to view an exhibition of works created by KSU students. The students, most of whom are not arts majors, made these pieces after viewing the Anne Frank exhibition as part of their general education classes. Spearheaded by professors Charlotte Collins and Natasha Lovelace of the KSU visual arts department, this new exhibition offers students’ heartfelt reactions to Anne Frank’s experience. The students have all donated their works to become a permanent addition to the Frank exhibition.

At 8 p.m., the public presentation will begin with a dramatic slide presentation of survivor artwork assembled by KSU Assistant Professor of Art History Daniel Sachs, who is the son of a Holocaust survivor. Other highlights of the event include ASO cellist Brad Ritchie’s performance of “Elegy and Vision,” which was written by KSU Composer-in-Residence Laurence Sherr, who also is the son of a Holocaust survivor. Originally written in memory of Sherr’s brother, who was named for an aunt who died at Auschwitz, “Elegy and Vision” has been played at Holocaust commemorations throughout the United States.

Then, the Georgia Ballet and the KSU Women’s Ensemble will perform “I Never Saw Another Butterfly.” This moving musical production is based on the poetry of children who were interred by the Nazis at Terezin. The Women’s Ensemble performed the piece two years ago at a Kristallnacht commemoration in 2002. The Georgia Ballet’s late founder, Iris Hensley, choreographed the dance, which her company has performed several times in recent years. This is the first joint performance by the two ensembles.

The evening will conclude with a candle lighting ceremony.

For more information, call 770-499-3214 or e-mail arts@kennesaw.edu.