By KATHERINE M. JOHNSTON
Contributing Writer
Harvard Hillel began its commemoration of Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Rememberance Day, last night with a short service and a powerful movie on neo-Nazism.
Over 70 people filled the room for the quiet, simple service which lasted for nearly an hour.
Nathan R. Perl-Rosenthal `04, who organized the event, began by reading some short selections by Jewish thinkers.
He was followed by students who read short passages about the Holocaust, Israel and Judaism by renowned authors including Elie Weisel and Primo Levi.
After each piece, the reader extinguished one of the six candles that were lit to represent the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust.
The candles were later re-lit as the service progressed, and at the end a seventh candle was lit in memory of the non-Jews who perished, as well as those who risked their lives to save Holocaust victims.
After the readings, there was a screening of the soon-to-be-released movie "The Believer." The film, which won the Grand Prize for Drama at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival, is based on the true story of a Jeiwsh neo-Nazi in the 1970s.
Perl-Rosenthal said at the beginning of the service that it was primarily to determine "what was lost, what was found, and what was recovered," and stressed the importance of understanding the Holocaust today. The movie, he said, brought the issue of anti-Semitism and the Holocaust to the present in a way that readings often do not.
"The service went very well," he said afterwards. "I was pleased with the number of people who came."
David M. Lippin `04, who attended the service and read one of the pieces, said the evening was important.
"It's important not only as a memorial to those who died but also as a warning sign of the fate of humanity and the true power of mankind," he said.
The commemoration continues today with the reading of the names of Holocaust victims on the steps of Widener Library. Members of the Harvard community will read the names in five-minute time slots from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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