ECU to hold annual Holocaust Awareness Day

East Carolina University will hold its 12th annual Holocaust Awareness Day from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. April 21.

Beginning at 8 a.m., volunteers at the ECU Student Memorial Garden will read the names of thousands of the approximately 11 million Holocaust victims.

A 5 p.m. dinner and discussion in the Croatan Green Room will focus on Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest and spiritual enrichment. At 7 p.m. in Wright Auditorium, the documentary “Paper Clips” will highlight a project about tolerance designed by Tennessee middle school students after they learned about the Holocaust.

The day will close at 9 p.m. with the lighting of luminaries for Holocaust victims and a memorial candlelight vigil. The vigil will feature poetry, prayer and silent reflection to remember the millions of lives lost during the Holocaust.

All events are free and open to the public. Space for the dinner is limited and guests are asked to RSVP to the Ledonia Wright Cultural Center at lwcc@ecu.edu.

Holocaust Day events are sponsored by ECU Student Involvement and Leadership, the Student Government Association, Student Advisory Board, ECU C.U.L.T.U.R.E., ECU Hillel, Congregation Bayt Shalom in Greenville, the ECU Office of Equity and Diversity and ECU’s departments of sociology and foreign languages and literatures.

For more information, contact Dr. Melissa Haithcox-Dennis, director of the Ledonia Wright Cultural Center, at (252) 328-6495.