Greensburg, Pennsylvania, October 24, 2007: Seton Hill University (SHU) will hold its annual Kristallnacht remembrance ceremony on Tuesday, November 6th from 6-7:00 pm in St. Joseph Chapel. The ceremony is put together and held by the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education (NCCHE) which is located at SHU.

The NCCHE has invited Bob Mendler, Jack Sittsamer, Shulamit Bastacky, and Sam and Goldie Weinreb, who are five Holocaust survivors who live in the Pittsburgh area to join the SHU community for the ceremony. Eric W. Blaustein of Pittsburgh will also serve as this year’s featured speaker for the event. He will speak about his experiences during Kristallnacht.

The ceremony is to remember Kristallnacht, or “the night of broken glass”, which occurred on November 9th and 10th, 1938, when the Nazis burned hundreds of synagogues and looted Jewish homes and businesses in a nationwide pogrom in numerous German, Austrian and Czech cities. The ‘broken glass’ alludes to the glass littering the streets from destroyed window fronts of shops, owned by Jews.

Students help to organize and participate in the event, serving as ushers, candle lighters, cantors, and readers. Members of the SHU and local communities are welcome to attend.

For more information about Kristallnacht, or about the NCCHE, contact Associate Director Wilda Kaylor at 724-830-1033.