Memory:  A Holocaust Survivor's Story  (2012)

World Premiere Showing

Director: Dennis Woytek
Run time: Approximately 60 minutes
Country: USA

The film will be shown in the Power Center.

Produced by Duquesne's own Dr. Dennis Woytek, assistant professor of journalism and multimedia arts, with the assistance of Jessica Blank, a Jewish student and senior digital media arts major, Memory: A Holocaust Survivor's Story tells the story of Howard Chandler, an 83-year-old Holocaust survivor, who returns to his home village in Poland and visits the concentration camps where he was imprisoned during World War II. Dr. Woytek and Ms. Blank traveled to Poland this past summer with Mr. Chandler, along with members of Classrooms Without Borders Pittsburgh, a non-profit that connects teachers to multicultural experiences to create a global learning community.

"Our goal as a documentary film crew was to record the events, the experiences of the group and to record Howard Chandler as he again walked in his footsteps that brought so much sadness more than 67 years ago," Woytek said. Chandler was only 14 when he was forced into slave labor by the Nazi regime after the Nazis invaded Poland. He was later sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau, a concentration camp where nearly 3 million people lost their lives. For Blank, the experience deepened her resolve to preserve Holocaust experiences of the survivors and tell of the personal courage involved in such a dark time in history.

Woytek and Blank edited more than 4,600 still photos and 26 hours of video footage to provide this first-hand information on the Holocaust, the mood of the era and context of Poland, its culture and its people.In addition to Woytek and Blank, the group of 40 educators and students also included Duquesne professors Dr. Marie Baird of Point Breeze, associate professor of theology, and Dr. Mark Frisch of Squirrel Hill, associate professor of modern languages and a member of the Human Right Film Series committee.
(Source: Adapted from Duquesne University Newsroom Web posting, Aug. 25, 2011)

Speaker:
Dr. Dennis Woytek, Assistant Professor of Journalism and Multimedia Arts,
Duquesne University

 Dr. Alan Rosen
Author of The Wonder of Their Voices: The 1946 Holocaust Interviews of David Boder (Oxford UP, 2010. Library Journal's European History Best Seller); Lecturer, Yad Vashem's International Institute for Holocaust Research