The University of New Haven will conduct its eighth annual Holocaust Remembrance on Thursday, April 28 at 3:00 p.m. in the Dodds Theater. As part of the ceremony, Mr. Sidney Glucksman, a victim of the Holocaust and New Haven resident, will offer his reflections.
Mr. Glucksman was born in Chwonow, Poland in 1927. He was only 12 years old when Germany invaded Poland on Sept. 1, 1939. One day, he was taken from his school by the Nazis, and he never saw his parents or siblings again. He spent the next six years in labor and concentration camps and was on the forced death march from the Gross-Rosen camp to Dachau.
“I remember seeing dead bodies piled up in front of me,” he told the New Haven Jewish Ledger in 2002. “We had to step over them.” Sidney was liberated from Dachau by the U.S. 7th Army. His wife, Libby Malamedik, was born in 1933 in Maniwiche, Poland. As a young child, she was hidden by Gentiles in her town, until her older brother, Jake, who had been working with the Russian underground, discovered that she was alive and took her to hide in the forest where she worked with the partisans. Following the war, she made her way to a displaced persons camp in Germany where she met Sidney.
The couple moved to the U.S. more than 50 years ago, settling in New Haven. Sidney, a fourth-generation tailor, opened Sidney’s Tailoring and Cleaners several decades ago, and Libby has worked by his side ever since.
Sidney began speaking to students several years ago about his experience during the Holocaust. “It was very hard for me in the beginning. I almost said no,” Sidney remembered. But in the end, he decided he had an obligation to tell his story. “I wanted the children to know about it,” he said. “I don’t want anyone to forget.”
In addition to Mr. Glucksman’s remarks, the ceremony will include a tribute to Dr. He Feng-Shan, a Chinese diplomat who helped save thousands of people who were desperate to escape Nazi persecution.
So come to Dodds Theater on Thursday, April 28 at 3:00 p.m. for a memorable and moving event.
