Continuing an on-going Saint Xavier tradition, Holocaust survivor, speaker and author Sidney Finkel will be speaking at the university about his experiences on Thursday, Sept. 12 at 2:00 p.m. in the Fourth Floor Board Room.
Sponsored by the Department of Religious Studies, the event is part of the department’s Suffering and Death course, but is open to the entire SXU community.
Taken from his hometown in Poland when he was 8 years old and imprisoned in concentration camps until his liberation at the age of 13, Finkel is a testament of human endurance and hope.
According to Religious Studies professor Dr. Avis Clendenen, Finkel’s relationship with the university has been a long and momentous one.
After hearing Finkel speak at an event in 1999, Clendenen was inspired to invite him to Saint Xavier to share his experiences with the community.
At the time that Finkel was first invited in 2000, Pope John Paul II had made a public apology to the Jewish community for the sin of anti-Semitism which has existed in several interpretations of Scriptural texts and even in some parts of the Church’s life.
Such a significant world event coincided well with Finkel’s first visit to SXU. Clendenen recalled that special moment.
“The first time he came to the university was simultaneous with the week that Pope John Paul II had made this public apology on behalf of the universal church.
“I thought it would be wonderful to invite Sidney that same week. To have him on our stage in McGuire Hall was a powerful moment and the whole auditorium was filled; lots of students came, lots of classes, other faculty members joined me in this. That began the story of Sidney Finkel coming to Saint Xavier,” Clendenen said.
Since 2000, Finkel has been speaking at SXU and awing numerous students, faculty, and staff members with his story.
Because of his significant service to the university, Clendenen decided to nominate Finkel for an honorary doctorate; one which he received at the December 2012 commencement ceremony.
Even at the age of 80, Finkel still continues to speak at multiple institutions – from junior high schools to universities – and sharing his story with thousands of people.
In 2006, Finkel published his memoir, “Sevek and the Holocaust: The Boy Who Refused to Die,” which has been widely used by many classes across the nation. Finkel’s website -www.holocaustspeaker.com- contains more information about his book as well as further information on the author.
While many people may have possibly read memoirs or stories written by victims of the Holocaust, Clendenen commented on how listening to a Holocaust survivor tell his story in person is a completely different experience from just reading it.
“The obligation to keep this story alive falls upon those who have heard the story. Because you’ve met him; he’s not just a book, he’s not just one of the millions; but, you meet him and all of a sudden, you’ve met someone who actually lived through that time and tells his story. It becomes part of who we are,” Clendenen said.
With the community of Holocaust survivors slowly aging, the importance of listening to and recording their stories is drastically increasing.
Efforts at preserving the survivors’ stories have already been made.
In 1994, after creating the critically-acclaimed film, Schindler’s List, director Steven Spielberg founded the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation.
Now called the USC Shoah Foundation, the foundation’s main purpose is to record video testimonies of Holocaust survivors’ accounts as well as the accounts of victims of other genocides.
As to how this event will benefit the SXU community, Clendenen believes that Finkel’s visit will have people reflecting on a multitude of questions and even wondering on how they view others.
She also believes that Finkel’s discussion will make SXU students into more well-rounded individuals.
“It will insist that you come to terms with what the dignity of the human person means.
“That’s why Saint Xavier exists; in preparing people to take their place in the world – in a transformational world – not just to get the job and secure your own security, but everybody here has a responsibility to think about the influence that they will make in the world,” said Clendenen.
Showing her admiration towards him, Clendenen remarked on the great impact that Finkel and his story have on the world.
“Sidney Finkel represents someone who endured the unimaginable and found a way to tell his story for the sake of the future of the human community.
“He did something with his suffering – he made meaning of it and no one would have ever blamed him if he could have never spoken of it again; but he found his voice and he found a pen and he started to write his story, and then he started to speak it because of his commitment to our possibilities to make a better world – such a thing like that could never happen again.
Macy Zamudio
Senior News Editor
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