University of Mount Olive Holds Events to Remember Holocaust

MOUNT OLIVE – University of Mount Olive held a Holocaust Day of Remembrance on Tuesday, April 9 which included a worship service on the Church’s role in the Holocaust, a Jewish dance presentation, a faculty forum and a keynote speech from Holocaust survivor Abe Piasek.

Talking to a standing room only crowd, Piasek shared his terrifying experience as a child in Nazi occupied Poland. He was only 12 years old in 1939 when Poland was occupied by Nazi Germany. A year later, he was forcefully separated from his family and taken to Radom, a forced labor camp. Piasek spent years in the labor camps of Auschwitz and then Weinhausen before the end of the war in 1945. Piasek talked about being interviewed by Steven Spielberg for the award-winning film “Schindler’s List,” which is featured in the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. He was also interviewed by the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem.

The College community placed flags on Kemp Commons to represent the 11 million killed during the Holocaust. In the final event of the day, Campus Activity Board (CAB) and Campus Ministries along with faculty, staff and community volunteers packed 10,000 meals for Stop Hunger Now.

“Thank you very much for hosting a Holocaust Remembrance Day at University of Mount Olive,” said Gail S. Bousum of Kenansville, one of the event attendees.  “I am a Messianic Jewish believer who has visited Auschwitz and deeply appreciate when people do not let the world forget what happened and what is currently happening.”

University of Mount Olive is a private institution rooted in the liberal arts tradition with defining Christian values. The College, sponsored by the Convention of Original Free Will Baptists, has locations in Mount Olive, New Bern, Wilmington, Goldsboro, Research Triangle Park, Washington and Jacksonville. For more information, visit www.moc.edu.