West Bloomfield Survivor to Speak During Holocaust Remembrance Day Event

West Bloomfield resident Dr. Guy Stern will share his family’s traumatic experience under Nazi rule and his escape to the U.S. during a special presentation at the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills on Jan. 26, International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The Sunday event will include tours of the museum and a memorial service. Admission is free all day, and donations will still be accepted. 

The museum tour at 1 p.m. walks attendees through the museum dedicated to the memory of the Holocaust. Included among the stops are The Henrietta and Alvin Weisberg Gallery, featuring an authentic World War II-era boxcar, and the popular Time Line, a circular exhibit that tracks the history of the Jewish people against major events in world history over a period of 4,000 years.  

Additional exhibits focus on the story of World War II, firsthand accounts from Detroit area Holocaust survivors, and honors devoted to the thousands of non-Jews who saved, or tried to save, at least one Jew, knowing this action could place them in mortal danger.

A member of the famed Ritchie Boys, Stern was decorated with the Bronze Star Medal and cited for his detailed statistical analysis of enemy divisions facing the First Army. A retired professor and senior vice president at Wayne State University, Stern is director of the Harry and Wanda Zekelman International Institute of the Righteous at the Holocaust Memorial Center.

The Holocaust Memorial Center is open Sunday – Thursday from 9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. (last admission at 3:30 p.m.); and Friday from 9:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. (last admission at 1:30 p.m.). The museum is closed on Saturday and public holidays. Admission is $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and college students and $5 for children.