UMD News Releases

DULUTH, MN – This year's Baeumler Kaplan Holocaust Commemoration features three events. Each is free and open to the public.

Thursday, April 17, at noon in the UMD Library 4th Floor Rotunda, UMD Associate Professor Deborah Petersen-Perlman, Department of Communication, will present “My Jewish Journey.” In October 2013, she traveled to the Netherlands and Germany to explore a number of Holocaust and Jewish-related sites. Among the focal points were the Anne Frank House, the small town of Elburg in northeastern Netherlands, as well as the New Synagogue and the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam. Traveling on to Germany, she visited a small Synagogue and cemetery in Schlusselfeld before heading to Weimar, Buchenwald, and Bergen-Belsen. This was a very personal experience for Dr. Petersen-Perlman. Having walked the paths of those whose lives were destroyed by the Nazis, she offers a significant perspective on what their lived experiences must have been. This event is co-sponsored by the Baeumler Kaplan Holocaust Commemoration Committee.

Thursday, April 17, from 6:30–9:30 pm in Bohannon 90, UMD campus, a film screening and post-film discussion of "The Devil's Arithmetic" will be offered. This 1999 made-for-television movie, based on Yolen's novel by the same name, tells the story of a modern young Jewish teenager, Hannah Stern. Forced to go to her family’s Passover Seder, Hannah unexpectedly finds herself in a small Polish village during World War II. After a brief "getting to know you" encounter with her relatives, Hannah and her relations are sent to a Nazi concentration camp. Hannah learns important lessons about tradition and culture, which becomes critically important to her entire family. Baeumler Kaplan Holocaust Commemoration Committee members will lead the discussion.

Wednesday, April 23, from 4–6 pm, in Chem 200, UMD campus, the Baeumler Kaplan Holocaust Commemoration Committee is proud to present renowned children's book author, Jane Yolen. The title of her presentation is "The Swallows Still Fly Around the Camp Chimneys: The Lasting Impressions of Holocaust on Writers and Child Readers." A prolific author who has over 300 books in print, she has been dubbed both the Hans Christian Andersen of America and the Aesop of the twentieth century. Yolen has won numerous awards, and she has been given six honorary doctorates in literature.

For more information about the Baeumler Kaplan Holocaust Commemoration, visit the website: http://duluth.umn.edu/cla/holocaust/main/