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Most students have studied the Holocaust and heard survivors’ testimonies. Some of these students are even descendants of survivors. Filmmaker Evan Kleinman, a grandchild of survivors, turned his unique family background into a documentary, which he screened on campus Tuesday as part of Hillel’s Holocaust Remembrance Week and STAND’s Genocide Awareness Month.

“We Are Still Here” chronicles his family’s journey back to Poland to visit his grandparents’ hometowns and memorialize their family members who had been lost. The central premise of the film was Kleinman’s desire to mark the place where his grandfather died with a tombstone, and by doing so, to connect with the past.

After the screening, Kleinman spoke about how today’s children and young adults will be the last generation to hear about the Holocaust from survivors, so telling their stories is especially important. He was motivated to make the film because he wants these stories to be told and remembered.

Kleinman says that his grandparents’ survival stories are “the foundation of my life.”

Other Holocaust Remembrance Week events included a memorial vigil on Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) and a dinner discussion on the challenges of Holocaust education today.

STAND is also striving to raise awareness about other conflicts and genocides in the world today. Their other upcoming events for Genocide Awareness Month include a film screening on the Syrian conflict, a coffeehouse co-sponsored with MLK & Friends and FMLA, a genocide remembrance peace vigil, and a discussion of the ongoing conflicts in the Congo.