HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR TO SPEAK IN THOMASTON JUNE 18

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) ###