An Illinois woman is telling her story of the horrifying events that happened years ago to educate people about the Holocaust and to make a difference.
Magda Brown will deliver Cornell College’s Holocaust Survivor Lecture at 6:30 p.m. April 18 at the Hedges Conference Room of the Thomas Commons at Cornell College. Admission is free.
When Brown turned 17 on June 11, 1944, the Hungarian teenager, her family members, and her Jewish neighbors were forced to board a boxcar bound for Auschwitz.
Between 1940 and 1945, the three Nazi concentration camps located near Auschwitz were the scenes of the extermination of more than 1.3 million Jews, along with Roma, Soviet soldiers, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, and others that Adolph Hitler’s Nazi regime deemed “subhuman.”
Brown experienced unspeakable horrors at Auschwitz, and a few months later was sent to Stadtallendorf, where she was among 1,000 Jewish Hungarian women forced to work in one of the largest ammunition factories in Germany. At the end of March 1945 she and her group were sent on a death march to Buchenwald.
Brown and several prisoners crawled on the ground and hid in a nearby barn. For a day and a half, they hid in piles of straw, knowing that they would be shot if they were caught. Two American Armed Forces then discovered the women and liberated them.
It’s difficult for her to recall and share her experiences, but Brown said she feels her story needs to be told.
“Think before you hate, all type of Genocide stems from Hate,” said Brown.
Brown’s speaking appearances are sponsored by Cornell’s Chaplain & Spiritual Life Office, the Thaler Holocaust Memorial Fund, and the Inter-Religious Council of Linn County. Dr. David and Joan Thaler established the fund in 1995 to provide support for education about the Holocaust to residents and students in Linn County. The fund provides support for academic courses about the Holocaust, public speakers and other educational programs.
Parking is available in the lot behind the Thomas Commons, in front of the building on First Street, and behind McWethy Hall.