Jessica Rothschild '06, chair of the Remembrance Program Committee, explained that as the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, it was particularly meaningful for her to put together a program on Holocaust awareness. However, the need for the event was not merely personal. "We're at the time where survivors are elderly and many of them are no longer with us," said Rothschild. "I feel that it's very important to continue sharing their stories. ... The Holocaust can never be forgotten."
Professor of Political Science William Taubman echoed this sentiment in his introduction of Lieberman. Taubman emphasized that it was imperative to make the "incomprehensible comprehensible" and, in order to do so, someone like Lieberman is necessary. "[She can convey] a direct, personal sense of what [her parents] went through," Taubman said of Lieberman.
Lieberman, who was born in Prague to parents who had endured the horrors of the Holocaust, described how her parents' exposure to the atrocities began. The Nazis disrupted Lieberman's family's seder, a traditional meal commemorating the Passover holiday, and turned their home into headquarters. Lieberman's family was incredibly surprised; they did not think that they had to worry about anything relating to the Nazis. Unfortunately, as Lieberman discussed, by the end of the war most of her family had been killed. "They all had been destroyed," she said. Her parents, laden with guilt because they had been chosen to survive, then emigrated to Gardner, Mass., where her father became the community rabbi.
Despite the change in scene, the memories of the Holocaust understandably lingered for years within her parents memories; Lieberman described how she could "hear her mother's screams from nightmares" and how her father constantly worried that "no one would say Mourner's Kaddish [the Jewish memorial prayer]" for the deceased. She described how no one in Gardner knew or understood anything about Prague, and they were able to understand even less the stories her parents carried with them. The adjustment to a small New England town was difficult. "We were from a very different place," she said.
Her parents had a difficult time speaking about the Holocaust and were rarely able to open up, but their experiences manifested themselves in day-to-day life. Lieberman's mother always had a prison dress from Auschwitz in her drawer, and the feeling of "how can you waste?" pervaded family life.
Lieberman's childhood experiences provided her a unique look at the devastation of the Holocaust. "All my life I've born witness to the strength and certitude that helped my parents survive the horror," she said.
This exposure to Holocaust survivors led her to assert that it is everyone's duty to learn about genocide. "We must talk about responsibility and learn the lesson of genocide," she said. "I personally have an obligation to act ... to be a 'light unto the nations.'"
She continued on a note of moral obligation. "We all at Amherst must think about light," she said. "You, as students, as the next generation, you radiate light, and you must bear being witnesses as the witnesses disappear."
Lieberman also discussed her participation in many Holocaust awareness activities. As a member of the delegation to Auschwitz at the 50-year commemoration of its liberation, a participant in the book "Daughters of Absence" and a member of the Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation, her life has been enormously impacted by her parents.
She emphasized the necessity for future generations as well as our own not to be passive. "Just work hard, know that ultimately you yourself can make the difference within your community," she said. "Don't underestimate your strength, your dreaming. You've got to set the world on fire, got to shed the light."
Students enjoyed Lieberman's speech and the message that she emphasized. Michael Bernstein '08 liked hearing Lieberman speak about her parents' experiences and the impact they made on her. "Mrs. Lieberman conveyed the message that no matter how dark the past, there is always an ember of light," he said. "Now as the generation of survivors die out it is the responsibility of those who hear those stories to bear witness to the unimaginable to transmit the light."
Josh Stein '08 concurred. "As an active member of the student community, I am elated to see a woman of Mrs. Lieberman's stature speaking at Amherst College," he said. "Her remarks were poignant, well-directed, and spoke to the core of an immensely important issue."
Lieberman was the keynote of an extensive program that included students Michael Bernstein '08, Ethan Davis '05, Samantha Lacher '06, Katie Roza '08, Barbara Sieck '05 and Joshua Stanton '08, each of whom lit a memorial candle representing the lives of one million Jews who perished. In addition, Amherst College Jewish Religious Advisor Rabbi Bruce Bromberg Seltzer led memorial prayers that remember the Holocaust's victims.
The program closed on a poignant note when Kate Stayman-London '05 sang "Hatikvah," a song of peace and hope that is also the Israeli national anthem.