Holocaust survivor and renowned author Dr. William Samelson is the guest speaker at the Holocaust Day of Remembrance Ceremony at the Joe A. Guerra Laredo Public Library on Thursday, April 26. The ceremony begins at 6:30 p.m. following a brief reception.
Dr. Samelson’s visit and address are hosted by the City of Laredo, the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Wall of Tolerance, International Bank of Commerce, and Congregation Agudas Achim.
Dr. William Samelson
Dr. Samelson, a native of Poland, was interned from the age of 11 in Nazi ghettoes and labor death camps in Poland and Germany. He was in Buchenwald Concentration Camp for three-and-a-half years. After liberation by American forces on May 1, 1945, he was hospitalized for six months in Borna, Germany.
He emigrated to the United States in 1948. He joined the U.S. Army and served during the Korean War. He earned a doctorate from the University of Texas and taught there, at Kent State, and the University of Illinois at Urbana. He was Visiting Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at UT-San Antonio and Trinity University.
Dr. Samelson is the author of All Lie in Wait, Warning, Hope, and One Bridge to Life. The latter is an autobiographical account of life-changing events in Poland, the incalculable loss of his mother and sister, and survival in the face of the methodical inhumanity of the Nazis.
Of One Bridge to Life, a Barnes and Noble review reads, “From this suspenseful and emotion-charged portrait of a world gone mad, emerges Samelson’s unique perspective on the unspeakable. In place of unseeing bitterness and hatred, Samelson affirms the difference between the Nazis who persecuted his family and people, and those Germans who were caught between the mission of Hitler and their own humanity. Electrifying instances of heroism and cruelty abound. We instinctively know this story is not only true, but true to human nature.”
Dr. Samelson is an honorary citizen of Texas and was appointed Admiral of the Texas Navy by the Texas Legislature and Governor John Connally in 1965.
Mayor Pete Saenz has signed a City proclamation designating April 26 Holocaust Remembrance Day in Laredo.
For further information on the Day of Remembrance Ceremony, call the Laredo Public Library at (956) 795-2400.
