RENO

A general statement not attributed to any one source says history can never be erased, and more than 120 years ago, George Santayana stated in The Life of Reason, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

This year’s speaker at the annual Day of Remembrance on April 14 is Dr. Samuel Kassow, a recognized scholar who has referred to those thoughts and phrases from previous generations. He will discuss the writing of historical events focusing on Jewish people living in the Warsaw Ghetto. His topic is Witnesses: Holocaust Testimony in Words and Art.

Kassow, who discussed his upcoming appearance with the Nevada New Group, is a Charles H. Northam professor of history at Trinity College in Hartford. He will speak at the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa in the ballroom from 7 to 9 p.m. This event is free and open to the public, but there’s limited seating. RSVP here.

For many generations, Kassow is known for his presentations on the Ringleblum Archive, described as a collection of documents and materials that originated out of the Warsaw Ghetto. The collection focuses on the plight of the Polish Jews and their lives in a segregated part of the city. Kassow was born in 1946 in a displaced persons camp in Germany to Holocaust survivors.

Kassow is the author and editor of a number of books on Jewish and Russian history. His Reno talk, though, will focus on “Who Will Write our History. Rediscovering a Hidden Archive from the Warsaw Ghetto and the Ringleblum Archive.”

~ Steve Ranson, Nevada News Group event advance