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Miami Dade College (MDC) Homestead Campus and its acclaimed Holocaust and Genocide Education Program (HGEP) once again will host a Kristallnacht Remembrance event at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 9. The event, open free to the public, will be in-person before a limited audience and also streamed live.
This year’s event also commemorates the life of Holocaust survivor David Mermelstein, who passed away in July at age 92 and served as the president of the Holocaust Survivors of Miami-Dade County. Mermelstein was instrumental in helping to create the HGEP program at MDC and was the keynote speaker during the inaugural Kristallnacht event.
Born in Kevjazd, Czechoslovakia, Mermelstein was only 16 years old when he was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. He was the only survivor in his family. In his memory, the event will reflect on his life and work at MDC, along with speakers who will discuss the long reach of the Holocaust. Dr. Mark Rosenberg, Florida International University president, will be this year’s guest speaker.
Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, was a series of organized attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and part of Austria in 1938. The attacks left the streets covered with broken glass from the windows of Jewish-owned stores and buildings, hence the name. Approximately 91 Jews were killed in the attacks, and another 30,000 were arrested and sent to concentration camps.
The first Kristallnacht remembrance event at MDC was held in 2008, same year the HGEP program was established at Homestead Campus. The program’s mission is to increase the global awareness of the Holocaust and Genocide.
About the Holocaust Education Program
In 2008, professors Randall Kaufman, Magdalena Lamarre, and German Munoz introduced EUH2032-History of the Holocaust to MDC, ushering in the Holocaust Education Program. To date, the college has expanded the program to five credit-courses and presented more than 150 community events, reaching an audience of over 15,000. Programs have ranged from Kristallnacht Remembrances to Genocide in the Congo.
For more information, contact Randall Kaufman, chair of Humanities and Social Sciences, Homestead Campus at 305-237-5267 or randall.kaufman@mdc.edu.
The event will take place in MDC Homestead Campus, Room F-222, 500 College Terrace, and livestreamed at https://mdc-edu.zoom.us/j/86097014940, ID: 860 9701 494.
