Eastern Connecticut State University will host “A Secret Tunnel, A Daring Holocaust Escape Attempt: What We Can Learn from the Human Spirit,” a lecture by Richard Freund on Nov. 15 in the J. Eugene Smith Library, Room 204. The lecture is on the Vilna/Ponar Excavation Project.
Freund is an archeologist and professor of Jewish history and Director of the Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Hartford. He has written several publications, directed numerous archeological projects and chronicled many television documentaries.
The event is co- sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Committee and the Intellectual Committee of Temple B’nai Israel in commemoration of Kristallnacht. Freund will present on the findings of a secret tunnel from one of the burial pits in Ponar. Freund will also preview a trailer for his NOVA documentary on the burial pits and the great synagogue in Vilna, Lithuania, which will be aired on PBS in April 2017.
The presentation will be followed by a short reception open to the public. RSVPs are requested by Oct. 28 and can be sent to office@templebnaiisrael.org; interested guests may also call (860) 423-3743.