BUFFALO, NY – In commemoration of UN Holocaust Remembrance Day, which honors the 75th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the Permanent Chair of Polish Culture at Canisius University and The Holocaust Resource Center of Buffalo will present a talk by former Washington Post war correspondent Jack Fairweather on his 2019 book The Volunteer: One Man, an Underground Army, and the Secret Mission to Destroy Auschwitz. The book tells the story of resistance fighter Witold Pilecki, who infiltrated Auschwitz and smuggled out reports to the allies on the deaths within its gates.
The January 22 presentation is free and open to the public. It will take place at 6:30 p.m. in the Regis Room of the Richard E. Winter ’42 Student Center, located at 81 Hughes Avenue. The evening begins with a brief memorial, featuring cellist Robert Hausmann, of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO), who will perform Ravel’s Kaddish. Hausmann offered this same performance as a memorial in the German Concentration Camp, Auschwitz, during the BPO’s tour of Poland. The Yad Vashem exhibit, The Auschwitz Album, will also be on display. A light reception and book signing, sponsored by Talking Leaves Books, will follow.
An additional commemoration program is scheduled for January 27, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. at Rosary Hall on the Daemen College campus, located at 4380 Main Street in Amherst. This program will feature second-generation speaker Wendy Weisbrot on her late father, survivor Joe Diamond.
Daemen will host The Auschwitz Album exhibit that evening. It will be on display at the Canisius University Library Exhibition Hallway throughout the month of February.
The events are free and open to the public. Additional co-sponsors are The Jewish Federation, Polish Arts Club of Buffalo, the Center for Polish Studies at Daemen College, Polish American Congress – WNY Division, Polish Legacy Project and the Kosciuszko Foundation – WNY Chapter.
One of 27 Jesuit universities, Canisius is the premier private university in Western New York. Canisius celebrates its sesquicentennial anniversary during the 2019-20 academic year, marking 150 years of Jesuit education and leadership in the city of Buffalo and Western New York. Visit https://www.canisius.edu/150 for more information about Canisius’ milestones and celebratory events.
