By: Paige Scofield
Campus Life Editor

On April 24, in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day, the office of Student Engagement coordinated 16-20 volunteers who planted thousands of flags on Western’s campus to represent all of the lives that were tragically and painfully lost during Hitler’s reign.

According to ushmm.org, “The internationally recognized date for Holocaust Remembrance Day corresponds to the 27th day of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar. It marks the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. In Hebrew, Holocaust Remembrance Day is called Yom Hashoah.”

Volunteers planted different colored flags to represent different groups of people who lost their lives during the Holocaust. Each flag planted represented 500 lives that were lost.

8,534 yellow flags represented Jewish adults, 3,500 small yellow flags represented Jewish children, 1,000 brown flags represented Roma and Sinti, 30 pink flags represented homosexuals, six white flags represented Jehovah’s Witnesses, 550 orange flags represented mentally/physically disabled persons, 6,600 red flags represented Soviet Prisoners of War, 6,000 blue flags represented Polish Catholics, 40 lime flags represented Spanish Republicans and 1,400 green flags represented Serbians.

“I think the visual impact an event like this has really brings to home the enormity of the loss of life in a different way, and reminds us that as a society we can never let anything like this happen again,” said John Wilkins, leadership and inclusion coordinator for Student Engagement.

Though the flags only stay up for one day, the office of Student Engagement has also planned an event in May for students to continue to learn and understand the struggles of Holocaust survivors.

“On May 2nd we will be showing a documentary of Alice Koppel Kern, a holocaust survivor, where she went back to locations in Europe that she was at during the holocaust. Her daughter, Debbi, will be joining us to also host a Q&A for us after the movie and give more details of her mother’s story,” said Wilkins.

Holocaust Remembrance Day is an important event to have on campus so that society never forgets the genocide and pain that millions of people dealt with during World War II.

“It is a time to reflect on the holocaust and be sure we never forget,” concluded Wilkins.

Contact the author at journalcampuslife@wou.edu