KVSC brings Holocaust survivor to students far and wide

March 11, 2008

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – KVSC 88.1 FM, the student-run radio station at St. Cloud State University, and the criminal justice department are bringing Holocaust survivor Henry Oertelt to campus on Thursday, March 20. He will discuss his journey from Berlin teenager during Hitler’s rise through his incarceration in five concentration campus and eventual rescue by U.S. soldiers liberating Europe and will talk about “What the Swastika Means to Me.”

The event at 10 a.m. in Ritsche Auditorium, Stewart Hall, is free and open to the public.

The podcasts and Oertelt’s book tell his harrowing personal story beginning with his arrest by the Gestapo in 1943 through his liberation, by General Patton’s Army, during a death march in 1945. Oertelt, 86, has closely followed St. Cloud State’s efforts to combat bias-motivated behavior and wants to be part of the University’s ongoing program of events to help educate everyone about bias.

Oertelt’s presentation also will be telecast to a classroom of ninth-graders at a high school in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, where they’re studying the book he authored, “An Unbroken Chain: My Journey Through the Nazi Holocaust.” Their study has been informed by a series of 12 podcasts, at www.KVSC.org, on Oertelt’s experience that were developed by KVSC to fit into the lifestyles of today’s students. The ninth graders will be able to interact with Oertelt during a Q&A via telecast.