Saint Mary's students, faculty and administrators who tried to attend yesterday's lunchtime showing of senior Sarah Testa's personal interview with Holocaust survivor Jacob Hennenberg may have been disappointed that the event was cancelled without any prior warning.
The event was supposed to be part of Saint Mary's chapter of the White Rose Society's commemoration of the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht, when over 20,000 men were sent to concentration camps. Kristallnacht, or the Night of the Broken Glass, is known as the event that marked the beginning of the Holocaust.
Testa, the founder and president of the Saint Mary's chapter, first met Hennenberg when she was 13 and this past summer he agreed to preserve his personal story on tape for the White Rose Society.
The video of the interview was supposed to have been shown in the Student Center lounge Monday and Tuesday; however, Testa said she found out on Friday the group would have to reschedule.
"I was working with a faculty committee for the events this week and I was under the impression that we had a space in the student center lounge to show the film, especially since it was on the fliers [publicizing the week's events]," she said. "I talked to special events late on Friday afternoon about something else, and they brought up that if we wanted to show the interview in the lounge we would be unable because of events relating to admissions."
Testa said that since the week is busy in special events they couldn't reschedule it to be shown in the lounge during the week.
However, Testa said she wanted to reschedule it somewhere because she knows a lot of people expressed an interest in seeing it.
The group managed to reschedule it to be shown on Thursday, Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. in Vander Vennet theater in the basement of the Student Center.
Carrie Call, director of the Office of Civic and Social Engagement and the White Rose Society's advisor, will be sending an e-mail to the student body informing them of the change this week.
Testa said she also plans to show the film during the second semester around important dates in Holocaust history.
