The Liberation Of The German Concentration Camps And The Psychological Impact Of Survival To Be Exploered At Workshop At Cumberland County College On November 14

Free Presentation Open to the Public; Registration Deadline November 11

VINELAND, NJ—What was the psychological impact on Holocaust survivors after being freed from the German concentration camps after World War II? What was the experience of liberation like, against a tragic background of destruction and suffering? What was it like to begin a life all over again amid the rubble, often alone?

This will be explored at a workshop, free and open to the public, on Wednesday, November 14, from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m., at the George P. Luciano Conference & Events Center, Cumberland County College, 3322 College Drive, Vineland, NJ.

This workshop, entitled “Coming Out of the Darkness: Survival, Liberation, and Re-entry,” is presented by The South Jersey Holocaust Coalition, the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education, Jewish Federation of Cumberland, Gloucester & Salem Counties, and Cumberland County College.

It will be led by Anthony Iaconelli, a teacher and administrator at St. Augustine Preparatory School—a four-year college preparatory school in Richland—since 1985 and currently the chairperson of the school’s History Department. Iaconelli holds Bachelor of Arts degrees in political science and history. He created the History/ Genocide course at St. Augustine Prep in 2005—a course that remains one of the most popular history electives offered at the school.

He is a prestigious Alfred Lerner Fellow in Holocaust Studies from The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous held annually at Columbia University in New York. He is one of only 500 Master Educators from the U.S. and Eastern Europe committed to teaching the public and their peers about the history of the Holocaust and preserving the Legacy of Righteous Gentiles, non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.

While the Red Army liberated the first major German concentration camp, Camp Majdanik, on July 23, 1944, and all German camps had been shut down by the Nazis or liberated by the Russians, Americans, and British by May of 1945, liberation was only a beginning—hardly joyful or lighthearted.

This workshop will examine the liberation of the camps, with a specific look at Ohrdruf, Bergen-Belsen, and Dachau, the psychological impact of survival, through the writings of Primo Levi, Filip Muller, and Elsa-Linfens Reiner; as well as the challenges of re-entry into the world.

No registration fee or cost is required to attend this workshop, but donations are greatly appreciated. A light dinner will be included.

Educators, students, and the public are invited to attend and, for professionals, 3.0 Professional Development (PD) hours will be granted by the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education.

Those interested in attending and those registering for the Professional Development hours must register by e-mail no later than Sunday, November 11 to holocaustcoalition@gmail.com. Educators desiring PD credits should please provide their name, contact information, and school.

For more information on this and all South Jersey Holocaust Coalition events and activities, e-mail holocaustcoalition@gmail.com, visit the Coalition’s website at www.HolocaustCoalition.com, or visit their Facebook page at “South Jersey Holocaust Coalition.”