Shulamit Bastacky, of Pittsburgh, Pa., will share her experience of the atrocities of the Holocaust at noon Wednesday, April 7, in the Forum Theatre on Penn State's New Kensington campus, as guest speaker of the campus' annual program, "Holocaust, in Remembrance."
Born in 1941 in Vilna, Poland (now Vilnius, Lithuania), Bastacky was only a baby when her family experienced the horrors of the Holocaust. After the Germans invaded the city, her family went into hiding. Separated from her mother and father, Basktacky was hidden in the basement of Roman Catholic nun. Alone and in a dark cellar, the little girl barely survived on the food that the nun was able to provide periodically. Three years later, when the Russian army liberated the town, Bastacky finally emerged. Her parents also survived and the family was eventually reunited, and they immigrated to the United States in 1963 and settled in Pittsburgh.
Bastacky later earned a mastyer's degree in social work from the University of Pittsburgh. The Remembrance program is sponsored by Lois Rubin, associate professor of English, and the Office of Student Affairs. The program is free to the public, but group reservations are recommended. Seating is limited and a large turnout is expected. For information, call 724-334-6062. For Bastacky's personal account in the book, "Flares of Memory: Stories of Childhood During the Holocaust," visit http://www.nk.psu.edu/43117.htm#NEWS43117 online.