HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR TO SPEAK IN THOMASTON
The opportunity to hear the first-person account of a Holocaust survivor is often a once in a
lifetime experience. Join us on June 18, 2016, as Manuela Mendels Bornstein shares her
story.
WHAT “A Survivor’s Story: Manuela Mendels Bornstein” A program presented by
the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust in cooperation with the Upson
Historical Societ
Free to attend and open to the public
WHO Holocaust survivor Manuela Mendels Bornstein - Manuela Mendels
Bornstein was born in Paris, France, to a Dutch father and a German
mother. In July 1942, the French police concentrated 13,000 Jews in the
Velodrome d'Hiver sports arena in Paris for days without food or water
before deporting them to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Life for Manuela and her
family changed dramatically when they narrowly escaped this major
deportation through the help of some friends who were active members of
the French resistance. With their help, the family moved to Legot, a small
village in the unoccupied zone of southern France. They hid there using
false identifications papers which had been provided to them by the mayor.
Assisting Jews put him and his own family at risk. No one in Legot
denounced them. After Paris was liberated by the Americans on August 25,
1944, the Mendels returned to Paris to find that most of their Jewish
neighbors had not survived. In 1960, Manuela moved to New York. She
met her husband and the couple moved to Atlanta in 1972. They have 2
sons and 4 grandchildren.
WHEN June 18, 2016
2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
WHERE R.E. Lee Auditorium
250 East Lee St. Thomaston, GA 30286
http://www.holocaust.georgia.gov/6-18-16
w w w . h o l o c a u s t . g e o r g i a . g o v
WHY The sheer number of people affected during the Holocaust is almost
incomprehensible. The ability to bring speakers to audiences in Georgia is
an important aspect of the Commission’s support of Holocaust education.
By replacing the statistics with personal stories, the survivors and victims
are given a voice and it also ensures that the Holocaust is never forgotten.
www.holocaust.georgia.gov/speakers
CONTACT Emma Ellingson
Public Education Manager, Georgia Commission on the Holocaust
emmaellingson@holocaust.georgia.gov 770-206-1555
The Georgia Commission on the Holocaust is a secular, non-partisan state agency
administratively attached to the Secretary of State. The Commission consists of fifteen
members appointed equally by the Governor, Lt. Governor and Speaker of the House. The
Georgia Commission on the Holocaust strives to preserve the memory of the Holocaust and
promote public understanding of the history. It ensures that learning how and why the
Holocaust happened is an important part of the education of Georgia citizens. It encourages
reflection upon the moral questions raised by this unprecedented event and the
responsibilities of citizens in a democracy.
The Holocaust was the state-sponsored, systematic persecution and annihilation of
European Jewry by Nazi Germany and its collaborators between 1933-1945. Jews were the
primary targets. Jews were the primary targets. During the era of the Holocaust, German
authorities also targeted other groups because of their perceived “racial inferiority”. Roma
and Sinti (Gypsies), people with mental and physical disabilities, and Poles were also targeted
for destruction or decimation for racial, ethnic, or national reasons. Other groups were
persecuted on political, ideological, and behavioral grounds, among them Communists,
Socialists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and homosexuals. Soviet prisoners of war and political
dissidents, also suffered grievous oppression and death under Nazi Germany. (Source:
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)
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