Students from Hillel and Alpha Epsilon Pi gather to commemorate Yom Hashoah.

Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom HaShoah, began at sundown on Sunday and continues until sundown on Monday.

In remembrance of this day, NIU Hillel and Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity welcomed all students, faculty and staff to join them in a walk across campus that ended near Cole Hall. The walk began at noon Monday at Stevenson North. Asha Hosmane, senior political science major, said the Holocaust was a horrific event that affected people of all backgrounds.

“The Holocaust was a very, very tragic event that not only affected millions of Jews but it also affected Gypsies, the disabled, gays, blacks, anyone who was not part of the Aryan super race,” Hosmane said. “History has shown us that it tends to repeat itself and we don’t want anything ever to happen like this again.”

Students like senior sociology major Seana Winner understand the importance of remembering such tragic events. Winner said remembering historical tragedies can act as a preventative measure to keep such atrocities from occurring in our future.

“You can invoke change and that you can stop it,” Winner said. “One person can change the world. Look at Adolf Hitler–he may not have changed it for the better, but he was one person and he changed the world. So if one person could stand up and say, ‘Hey, no’ then it can stop. I have been lucky to have met three Holocaust survivors in my lifetime and they are probably the…nicest people I have ever met in my entire life. For me, it was kind of heartbreaking to learn that this type of stuff happened to them. I’ve researched, I’ve read stories, but it’s just like if I can pass on their stories and remind people what happened then maybe it’ll evoke a change. I mean, genocide still exists in this world, unfortunately.”

Associate dean Jeffery Hecht understood the importance of Yom HaShoah and arrived to show his support. Hecht said the event was deserving of attention.

“It’s like anything historical,” Hecht said. “If you don’t relieve it, if you don’t remember it, it vanishes and you repeat the same mistakes again and again. So we commemorate; some of the things we commemorate in our society commemorate very publicly. We have a day off, we close our facilities, we shut down the banks and the post offices. Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a very good example: It’s a good reminder of things in the forefront, of what’s going on. Other events aren’t quite so public, and the murder of six million people, all from one religious group–you can’t even say racial group because that’s not true, it’s not even an ethnic group–is something we ought to remember and decide not to do again. The way we do that is by bringing it out, by remembering it, by bringing it to the forefront frequently. Events like this do that, I think.”

Students and faculty walked in a single file line silently across campus until they stopped near Cole Hall. Sophomore business major Chad Harris said the trek was disheartening and inspiring at the same time.

“It was pretty powerful; the walk was always interesting,” Harris said. “One thing that happened this year that didn’t happen last year was people stopping in cars asking for fliers, that was pretty cool. To be able to reach out to students, students in cars as well.

“I mean, it’s the same old stuff. You get some people that say some comments that are disturbing and you get some other people who do the opposite. We had two students who came in and walked with us off the street that weren’t part of the original group; that has never happened before. We had some people join in, that was pretty cool, and some members of the university came as well.”

Once at the bridge by Cole Hall, the group took a moment of silence for those lost during the Holocaust. Fliers were handed out to students as they passed and the ceremony was capped with the singing of the Jewish national anthem.