HERC Honors Liberators of WWII

By Danielle Wirsansky on November 17, 2014

A liberator is a person who frees another from imprisonment or oppression. Most commonly, a liberator is recognized as a person who helped to release those held in the concentration camps of the Holocaust, and this year marks the 70th anniversary of the liberation of those camps.

While this event may seem far in the past, understanding and recognizing what makes a liberator is especially important today because of recent world events, such as the rise of human trafficking and the oppression of people in countries like Syria and Russia.

Syrian Revolution

To commemorate these liberators and this special anniversary, the Holocaust Education Resource Council of the Big Bend (HERC) is hosting its annual community dinner in their honor. This special event will take place on Nov. 13 at 5:30 p.m. at the Goodwood Museums & Gardens. Members of the community who are WWII veterans are invited to attend. Individual tickets are $50, and sponsorship opportunities are available. For reservations or sponsorship information, please go to www.holocaustresources.org .

Allied prisoners of war after the liberation of Changi

The food served at the event will also serve to honor survivors of the Holocaust. The recipes used are from The Holocaust Survivor Cookbook and will be prepared by Tallahassee culinary icon, Susan Turner.

Guest speaker, Michael Hirsh, will also speak at the dinner and discuss his book, The Liberators: America’s Witnesses to the Holocaust. Dot Hayward, one of the organizers of the event and a HERC board member, said “I met Michael Hirsh several years ago in Illinois at the Holocaust Museum there. He had brought with him to his engagement not only survivors, but liberators as well, so they were in the audience. That and his speech were just so compelling… this eye witness account, to me, was just amazing.”

Allied prisoners of war after liberation of Changi 2
Prisoners walk through prison gates waving and smiling, Singapore

“Later at the book signing, I asked him if he would be interested in coming to Tallahassee and collaborating with HERC, and he graciously said he would like to. I thought this was the perfect time to coordinate these two things, the anniversary of the liberation of the camps and his wonderful book.”

Hirsh’s book chronicles the accounts of over 150 American liberators that were among the first to encounter and witness the true horrors of the concentration camps. Hirsh himself is a Vietnam veteran and author of other military based books and a co-author of Terri: The Truth, a New York Times bestseller.

One of the main reasons that Hayward thinks HERC and its mission are so valuable is because of children. “Many people didn’t grow up learning about the Holocaust like I did. There were no courses [in school] and there was very little conversation about what actually happened during the Holocaust. We must be vigilant and understand, with atrocities in other countries in the world, that we must be a part of those things, too. We must not let them flare up. [Children] need to know that everyone deserves love and respect.”

Wounded soldiers awaiting transfer to a Casualty Clearing Station of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps, June 6, 1944

The lessons that we can learn from these soldiers, the liberators of WWII, are still just as relevant today as they were when the truth about the concentration camps first emerged. The HERC goals of Holocaust education, including their Liberators Dinner, only helps our community reach those ends. We hope that you will join us for this special event.

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