On Tuesday, November 18, in Prep’s Fortenberry Theater, Dr. Cindy Townsend introduced Holocaust survivor Ms. Inge Auerbacher to talk to the student body.

Auerbacher is 79 years old, a retired chemist, a renowned writer, and Jewish in faith.

Auerbacher was born in a village in Germany of 2000 people, and of those were 60 Jewish families. Her father was a WWI veteran, an Iron Cross recipient, and a profitable textile merchant.  At 6 years old, she attended the only Jewish school in the entire state, traveling hours each day just to get there. She showed the students her “yellow star” that she was required to wear as a child. When she was only 7 years old, she and her family were transported to a concentration camp in the Czech Republic with 1200 other Jews.  Of those 1200 transported, only 13 survived.  She was liberated on May 8, 1945 and one year later she moved to America.  She is still “a very proud American.” Today, her doll, one of her few possessions to survive her imprisonment, rests in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

As one of the dwindling number of Holocaust survivors, Auerbacher brought to Prep her message of perseverance and hope. The forum ended with a standing ovation by the students and a solemn prayer sung by Ms. Auerbacher.