Sam Dunaway | News Editor
One by one, volunteers drive colorful flags into the soggy grass on Monmouth Avenue. Rain is the only sound that can be heard as the students, staff and faculty silently reflect on the annual display — 27,660 flags that represent the deaths of over 13 million individuals during the Holocaust.
“I thought it was really cool that our community would actually do something like this,” said freshman psychology major Alicia Ojeda. Ojeda was one of the numerous volunteers that helped place the flags in the ground on the evening of April 11.
First-year psychology major Brooklyn Giles reflected on how she felt helping set up the display.
“Yesterday, when I was putting them down, it was just really impactful. I couldn’t believe this happened,” described Giles. “Putting in a flag seems so simple, but to someone who was either a victim and still may be alive or a family member … it could mean more than just putting a flag in the ground for them.”
This annual display hosted by Student Engagement falls on Yom HaShoah, a Jewish day of remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust. Around the world, this day of remembrance began on the evening of April 11 and ended on the evening of April 12.
“Part of what makes this event so powerful is that it’s here and then it’s gone,” explained John Wilkins, Coordinator for Leadership and Inclusion for Student Engagement. Wilkins is in charge of coordinating the flags, signage and volunteers for the display. He noted that the display reveals a powerful and important piece of history that needs to be commemorated.
“I think we remember it so it doesn’t happen again,” said Wilkins.
Senior social science major Sara Madden is exploring the topic of Jewish resistance during the Holocaust in her honors thesis. Her interest in this topic started years ago when she visited a concentration camp in Germany. Even Madden, who has been studying this time period for years, found herself impacted by the display.
“There’s something about reading it in a textbook that doesn’t hit you the same way as actually seeing it,” Madden expressed. “It makes it so much more real and easier to relate to.”
Madden also noted that the display gives a holistic view of the victims of the Holocaust. Not only are the six million Jewish individuals that lost their lives represented, but various flags also represent people with disabilities, Spanish republicans, Polish Catholics, LGBTQ+ individuals, Roma and Sinti tribes, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Serbians and Soviet prisoners of war.
“For me, I’ve only really focused on the Jewish impact during the Holocaust,” explained Madden. “But I know there’s so many other types of people and demographics that were affected. I really like how the different flag colors emphasize that.”
A documentary called “Orchestra of Exiles” showing on May 3rd at 7 p.m. in the Willamette Room will continue the education and awareness of the Holocaust on Western’s campus.
Contact the author at journalnews@wou.edu
Photo by: Paul F. Davis
