Holocaust survivor Lili Gordon will help Blinn College students understand the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust with a special presentation at the Blinn-Brenham campus on Monday, March 30.
The 7 p.m. presentation will be hosted at the Dr. W.W. OโDonnell Performing Arts Center located at 600 Blinn Boulevard (map). Admission is free and open to the public.
Gordon is one of the youngest Holocaust survivors in Texas, and is a dynamic speaker who frequently shares her story with organizations and schools across Texas. She has been actively involved in the Houston Holocaust Museum and served as president of the Houston Council of Holocaust Survivors.
โItโs one thing to read about the Holocaust in a textbook, but then to meet somebody that went through it is another experience,โ said Debbi Vavra, assistant dean for the Division of Visual & Performing Arts.
Ti โCindyโ Schulz will accompany Gordonโs presentation with classical piano works and Blinn College Board of Trustees member Leon Toubin will speak about the recent move of the BโNai Abraham Synagogue from Brenham to Austin.
โMusic was a big part of helping the Jewish people survive the horrors of the Holocaust,โ Vavra said.
The presentation is part of the Division of Visual & Performing Arts interdisciplinary initiative โThe Butterfly Project: Remembering Children of the Holocaust.โ This initiative was developed with the help of the Blinn College Foundation.
Gordonโs presentation comes days before the Blinn-Brenham Theatre Arts Program debuts its production of โI Never Saw Another Butterflyโ April 9-10 at the OโDonnell Center MRW Studio Theatre in the OโDonnell Center. Celeste Raspantiโs one-act play tells the story of a young girl living in a concentration camp. The play is named after the book, a collection of art and poetry by Jewish children who lived in the concentration camp Theresienstadt.
Tickets to the play are $5 and available at www.blinn.edu/boxoffice, by emailing [email protected] or by calling 979-830-4024. Tickets are free to Blinn students, faculty and staff.
In addition to the play, the Blinn College Camerata and Womenโs Chorus will perform selected works related to this time period April 23 at 7 p.m. in the Finke Recital Hall in the C.F. Schmidt Building (map).
