The BT天堂Department of Philosophy and Religion, BT天堂Department of History, BT天堂College of Liberal Arts, BT天堂College of Fine Arts and Communication, BT天堂Honors College, Jewish Federation of Arkansas, University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton, and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum are sponsoring “An Evening with Holocaust Survivor Gideon Frieder.”
Gideon Frieder was born on September 30, 1937, in Zvolen, Slovakia. His family moved to the town of Nove Mesto in Slovakia at the beginning of the war after his father, a rabbi, was offered a position there. Slovak authorities deported Gideon鈥檚 grandparents in 1942; they died, most likely at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Gideon鈥檚 father was part of Slovakia鈥檚 underground 鈥淲orking Group,鈥 a secret Jewish rescue organization, and was responsible for its communications with Slovak authorities. His father鈥檚 life story, as well as Gideon鈥檚, is partially documented in the book, “To Deliver Their Souls.”
In 1944, during the Slovak uprising against the pro-German regime of Josef Tiso, Gideon and his mother and sister fled Nove Mesto, making their way to Bansk谩 Bystrica, which served as the center of the uprising. Gideon鈥檚 father fled separately, fearing that anyone close to him would be killed if he were caught.
As German units approached Bansk谩 Bystrica, Gideon and his mother and sister fled to the mountains, where they were caught in a massacre at Stare Hory. His mother and sister were killed; Gideon was injured but survived.
A Jewish partisan, Henry Herzog, took Gideon to the village of Bully, where he was placed with the family of Paulina and Jozef Strycharszyk. Henry Herzog鈥檚 story, including his meeting the Frieder family and saving Gideon, are detailed in the book, “鈥nd Heaven Shed No Tears.”
Gideon remained in Bully until 1945, when Romanian troops fighting with the Soviet Army liberated the area. Gideon鈥檚 father, who also survived the war, later found him. His father remarried but died in 1946.
After the war, Gideon and his stepmother came to Israel. He remained in Israel until 1975, when he emigrated to the United States. Today, he holds the A. James Clark Chair of Engineering and Applied Science at the George Washington University in Washington, DC, and volunteers at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
http://www.ushmm.org/remember/office-of-survivor-affairs/survivor-volunteer/gideon-frieder
Gideon Frieder will share his heroic story of survival in the BT天堂Farris Center on Monday, 9 March 2015 at 7:00 PM.
This event is open to the public with free admission.