Inge Auerbacher as a child. Photo provided.
AMES, Iowa — Inge Auerbacher was one of the very few children who survived Theresienstadt, a concentration camp in Czechoslovakia during World War II.
Next week, Auerbacher will share her story at Iowa State University. “The Holocaust Through the Eyes of a Child Survivor” will start at 6 p.m. Monday, March 4, in the Memorial Union Great Hall. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Auerbacher was born in Kippenheim, Germany, in 1934. She survived Kristallnacht — the “Night of Broken Glass” — but in 1942 was deported with her parents to Theresienstadt. She spent three years in Theresienstadt, where only 1 percent of the 15,000 children survived.
Miraculously, Auerbacher and both of her parents survived and immigrated to the United States after the war. Here, she was stricken with a disease caused by malnutrition in the concentration camp. Auerbacher was hospitalized for two years, and for many years after fought to regain her strength. Although she missed years of school, Auerbacher graduated with honors from Bushwick High School in Brooklyn, New York, in 1953.
She went on to receive a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1958, and completed post-graduate work in biochemistry. Auerbacher worked for more than 38 years as a chemist alongside prominent scientists in research and clinical work.
Auerbacher has been lecturing on the Holocaust since 1981, speaking to thousands of people in the United States, Canada and Germany. She wrote “I Am a Star: Child of the Holocaust” and “Beyond the Yellow Star to America.” Last month, she was a featured speaker at the United Nations Holocaust Remembrance ceremony. She has received numerous awards for her work teaching tolerance and human rights, including the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
This lecture is co-sponsored by the Chabad on Campus student organization, history department, philosophy and religious studies department, and the Committee on Lectures, which is funded by Student Government.
Find more information about ISU lectures online or by calling 515-294-9934.
