Feb 4, 2011
Holocaust Education Week Culminates with Eyewitness Buchenwald Account
For the past nine years, the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation has commemorated the systematic murder of six million Jews by hosting Holocaust Education Week at venues throughout Miami-Dade County. As this year’s program comes to a close on Thursday, February 10, the community will gather to hear the extraordinary story of Dr. Leon Bass, an eyewitness to the atrocities of the Holocaust.
As a 19-year-old African-American sergeant serving in a segregated army unit during World War II, Bass encountered what he called the “walking dead” of the Buchenwald concentration camp. He was among the first American soldiers to be seen by Buchenwald survivors and assisted with their relief.
“When I walked through the gates of Buchenwald in April of 1945, I was totally unprepared for what I saw,” Bass said in an interview for the documentary Blacks and Jews: Are They Really Sworn Enemies?
Bass repressed his traumatic memories for decades, until he encountered a Holocaust survivor while teaching and becoming active in the civil rights movement.
Bass’s presentation, “Liberating Buchenwald,” will be held at 3:30 p.m. on the Miami-Dade College Kendall Campus, 11011 SW 104th Street, Building 2, Room 2111.
Tickets to the program are free, but advance reservations are required due to limited seating availability. For tickets and more information, contact the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach at [email protected] or 305.538.1663.
Holocaust Education Week is sponsored by Naomi Wilzig in memory of Siggi Wilzig.
