Women's History Month program at OSU features Holocaust survivor

Monday, March 26, 2007

In observance of Women’s History Month, Oklahoma State University Women’s Programs will host a free presentation and discussion March 27 featuring Holocaust survivor Rosa Blum.  

Blum, whose life is the subject of the 2005 documentary, “The Will to Live: The Rosa Blum Story,” will give the lecture, “The Will to Live: A Story of Survival,” at 2 p.m. in the Student Union Theater on OSU’s Stillwater campus.

Blum was born in Romania near the Hungarian Border. In summer 1944 at age 13, she was relocated with her family to the ghettos and, later, the extermination camps. Blum was sent with her mother and grandmother to Auschwitz and never saw them again. She and other women who were among the last prisoners to leave the camp eventually found themselves near Dachau, where they were liberated in 1945 by American troops.

Blum’s parents or grandparents perished. Of her five siblings, only one brother also survived.

Blum, who settled in Dallas and became a wife, mother and grandmother, will share an inspiring story of survival and a message of hope, said Gloria Birdine, OSU Women’s Programs coordinator.

“Mrs. Blum tells an empowering story appropriate for Women’s History Month,” Birdine said. “The audience should come away encouraged they can withstand any kind of situation that arises after hearing how much she has endured and still had the will to live.

“People who hear her message might be more appreciative of what we’ve been given here in the United States and realize we should take advantage of whatever time we have,” Birdine said.

Blum is also featured in the 2007 documentary, “Motivated by Death,” and copies of the DVD will be available for purchase before and after her speech.

Blum’s appearance at OSU is sponsored by OSU’s Women’s Studies program, Sociology department, Women’s Resource Center and Minority Women’s Association, the OSU Student Government Association’s multicultural affairs committee, the Stillwater Public Library and the National Organization of Women.