She survived the horrors of eight Nazi Germany concentration camps only because Oskar Schindler put her name on a list and on Thursday, April 19 author Laura Hillman is scheduled to speak at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana.
In her I Will Plant You a Lilac Tree, Hillman detailed her experiences as a teenager living in Adolf Hitler's fascist nightmare from April 1942 to April 1945, when she was rescued by Allied forces.
Nowadays, her message is a reminder that it wasn't a backward, Third World nation that conceived and executed atrocities that systematically slaughtered more than six million Jews. The villains emerged from a highly-educated German society that included notable scientists, doctors, musicians and poets. Even today people must be vigilant against a repeat of the tragedy, she says.
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Of course, given that Orange County is home to vocal, unrepentant
Holocaust deniers as well as criminal street gangs that openly celebrate
white supremacy and Hitler, Hillman's lecture is timely.
She will sign books after the lecture.
The
hour-long event–which begins at 1:30 p.m. and will offer seating on a
first come, first served basis–coincides with the Holocaust Remembrance
Day and is co-sponsored by Orange County Public Libraries and the
Council on Aging.
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