Center Hosts Holocaust Survivor as Speaker in conjunction with Mountain Playhouse Student Matinees of ‘My Heart in a Suitcase’

Sister Lois Sculco, SC, Seton Hill university vice president for Mission and Student Life and National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education (NCCHE) administrator, when approached by staff of the Mountain Playhouse in Jennerstown, PA to advise them about a speaker to address students following matinees of “My Heart in a Suitcase,” on May 19 and 20, 2009, responded immediately that it’s important for students to hear directly from a Holocaust survivor.

“It’s important to provide students with every opportunity to hear Holocaust survivors’ testimonies as long as it’s still possible,” stated Sculco.

Consequently, Sculco arranged for Robert Mendler to speak following the two matinees. “I immediately thought of Mendler, who has been very active with our Center since its inception in 1987. He was a young man, barely 13 years old when the Nazis invaded his native Poland. That’s about the same age as many of the students who will be in the audience.”

Born in Poland, Mendler, a Holocaust survivor and Latrobe resident, survived ten different Nazi concentration camps before he was liberated by American troops in 1945. He lost 89 members of his extended family during the Holocaust. Mendler holds an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Seton Hill University for his untiring work in educating students of all ages about the Holocaust. He speaks often on behalf of Seton Hill’s National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education.

Wilda Kaylor, NCCHE associate director, and Mrs. Faith Kerr, librarian at Christ the Divine Teacher, Latrobe, PA, will accompany Mendler and participate in the discussion following the May 19^th performance of the play. Kaylor directs Center activities and programs at Seton Hill, including outreach to local teachers. Kerr created a Holocaust resource center in her school, which is used by eighth grade students as they study the Holocaust.

Sculco and Sister Maureen O’Brien, director of campus ministry at Greensburg Central Catholic High School, will join Mendler in addressing the students on May 20. In addition to her administrative duties, Sculco teaches an annual senior integrative seminar which uses the Holocaust as a focus of study. Her students interview Holocaust survivors and tour the U. S. Holocaust Memorial Museum as part of their studies each fall semester. O’Brien has taught students about the Holocaust and serves on the Pittsburgh Holocaust Commission.

The play is an adaptation of a Holocaust survivor’s story which will teach students what happened in Germany and in other occupied nations prior to and during WW II—and how a heroine survived thanks to her own courage and the generosity of others.

Sculco added, “Individual stories of the Holocaust humanize the story, so that students obtain a level of understanding that they simply can’t gain from statistics. The future challenge to educators will be to find ways to convey these testimonies when survivors can no longer speak for themselves.”

For further information about the play, contact Erica Roslonski, 814-629-9201, ext. 118, or go to www.mountainplayhouse.org.