Holocaust Victims Honored in Memorial

The Harvard-Radcliffe Hillel honored Holocaust Memorial Day yesterday on the steps of Widener Library by having students, faculty, and religious officials read names of some of the millions of Jews who were killed by the Nazis in World War II.

Jeremy A. Dauber '95, chair of the Hillel coordinating council, said the ceremony was an attempt to remind people of the tragedy of the Holocaust "so that it can never happen again."

"We can't let it be forgotten," Dauber said.

He said the readers included people from a variety of backgrounds. "We want the whole Harvard community to remember," Dauber said.

"It would take months, years to finish a reading of all the names," he said. "All we can read is a small fraction and hope we can somehow fulfill the impossible task of representing six million."

However, Dauber said people must realize that the Jews were not the only group persecuted by the Nazis. "The gay and lesbian communities were also put in concentration camps," he said.

To honor gay and lesbian victims of the Holocaust, members of the Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Students Association (BGLSA) also took part in the memorial by erecting a pink triangle in front of Widener and reading from the list of names.

Javier Romero '95, a BGLSA co-chair, said he wants people to remember the non-Jewish victims. "Along with Jews were a lot of gays, Catholics, any 'undesirable' groups," he said.

Some members of the BGLSA expressed concern about what they called an "anti-gay" blue square drawn in chalk at the foot of the Widener steps. The "pro-family values" group the Association Against Learning in the Absence of Religion and Morality (AALARM) has adopted the blue square in its campaigns, but yesterday Robert K. Wasinger '94, a member of the AALARM presidential council, denied that the group had drawn this blue square.

BGLSA members set up their pink triangle--now a symbol of gay empowerment but originally used by the Nazis to mark gay concentration camp inmates--on top of the square

Some members of the BGLSA expressed concern about what they called an "anti-gay" blue square drawn in chalk at the foot of the Widener steps. The "pro-family values" group the Association Against Learning in the Absence of Religion and Morality (AALARM) has adopted the blue square in its campaigns, but yesterday Robert K. Wasinger '94, a member of the AALARM presidential council, denied that the group had drawn this blue square.

BGLSA members set up their pink triangle--now a symbol of gay empowerment but originally used by the Nazis to mark gay concentration camp inmates--on top of the square