FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DATE: March 19, 2008

CONTACT: Lisa Saunders

(845) 574-4244

Local Holocaust Survivor Speaks at SUNY Rockland Community College About Her Work in the Resistance Movement During WWII

Community invited to free lecture and film

Date: Tuesday, April 29, 12:30-1:30 p.m.

Type: Talk, "Hidden Child," by Freide Gorewitz

Place of event: Technology Center, Room 8180 (Ellipse) Rockland Community College

Address: 145 College Road Suffern, NY

Admission: Free and open to the public

Freide Gorewitz, a retired Pearl River High School teaching assistant, will speak about her life in hiding as a child and her involvement as a teen in the Resistance Movement against the Nazis. Born in Romania, she fled the Jewish Ghetto with her parents to Belgium when anti-Semites set the area on fire. When Germany later declared war on Belgium, Freide and her family tried to escape through the falling bombs toward England. After her sister was injured by shrapnel, the family returned to Belgium and eventually went into hiding, sharing filthy living quarters with rats and mice. When she turned 16, Freide decided to help her people so she left her basement home, dyed her hair blonde and joined a cell of the Resistance Movement that delivered food to those in hiding and placed orphaned Jewish children in homes or Catholic orphanages. Freide was awarded a citation from the King of Belgium for her work.

Date: Wednesday, April 30, 7:00 p.m.

Type: Documentary, “Hiding & Seeking”

Place of event: Technology Center, Room 8180 (Ellipse) Rockland Community College

Address: 145 College Road Suffern, NY

Admission: Free and open to the public

Is it possible to heal wounds and bitterness passed down through generations? An Orthodox Jewish father tries to alert his adult sons to the dangers of creating impenetrable barriers between themselves and those outside their faith. He takes them on an emotional journey to Poland to track down the family who risked their lives to hide their grandfather for more than two years during World War II.

More Information: Contact Holocaust Remembrance Committee members Len Gersten, at (845) 574-4303, lgersten@sunyrockland.edu or Allison Frank at (845) 574-4311, afrank@sunyrockland.edu or visit www.sunyrockland.edu

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Rockland Community College, a unit of the State University of New York, is located 25 miles northwest of NYC. The majority of its students transfer to four-year colleges, and many find immediate employment upon earning their associate’s degree or certificate. The College also offers others, from preschoolers to senior citizens, the opportunity to simply learn something new. Quality education...at a price you can afford.