Holocaust awareness and remembrance event features art, lecture

CONTACT: Jessica Stark
PHONE: 713-348-6777
E-MAIL: stark@rice.edu

As part of the Holocaust Awareness and Remembrance Event at Rice University April 30, world-renowned scholar Shlomo Aronson will present a lecture about the history of the Holocaust, and two artists will display their works on the subject.

Aronson will speak at 7:30 p.m. in Grand Hall at Rice Memorial Center following a 6 p.m. art exhibition opening and 7:15 p.m. reception in the center’s Farnsworth Pavilion. The events are free and open to the public.

Aronson is a political science professor from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a noted Holocaust scholar. His lecture and book, “Hitler, the Allies and the Jews,” examine the relationships and issues at the time of the second world war. Aronson served as a consultant to the Interagency Working Group in charge of implementing the U.S. Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act. He also was a scholar in residence at the U.S. National Archives and a fellow at the Library of Congress.

The art exhibit will feature 28 works from Avraham Sapir of Israel and Saul Balagura of Houston. It will also be open for viewing from 9 a.m. to noon May 1, 2 and 4.

Born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1931, Sapir is the only member of his family who survived the Holocaust’s death camps. His featured pieces include 14 Holocaust paintings done during the 1980s. Sapir’s artwork has been exhibited in Tel Aviv and in the Yad Vashem museum in Jerusalem, where one of his other paintings is part of the museum’s permanent collection.

Balagura is a self-taught Colombian-born artist who, after retiring, opened an art studio in New Mexico and another in Houston. With his “Holocaust Series,” he hopes to use his voice to keep the memory of the Holocaust victims alive. Balagura’s poetry will accompany his paintings in the exhibit at Rice.

Because of special security arrangements, patrons should plan to arrive early for the lecture. The following security precautions will be in place: