Holocaust survivor Judith Meisel was just a teenager when she watched her mother disappear into a Nazi gas chamber.

On Monday, Oct. 25, she will share her story at 7 p.m. at the Tree of Life Synagogue on South High Street. The public is invited to this special event hosted by West Virginia University Hillel and the Tree of Life Synagogue.

Meisels story begins with the Nazi invasion of Lithuania. At the age of 12, she and her family were forced from their home and sent to a concentration camp in Poland, where her mother was killed.

Determined to escape the Holocaust, she and her sister fled a death march, posing as Catholics. Several months later, when they finally found their way to safety in Denmark, the 16-year-old Meisel weighed only 47 pounds.

Motivated by her experiences, Meisel became a civil rights activist and marched in the 1963 Martin Luther King Peace Rally in Washington, D.C.

Today, she spends much of her time visiting schools and teaching students about diversity and tolerance.

WVU Hillel President Deva Solomon described Meisels story as one of hope and survival.

We hope you will join Judith as she passes on her hope that students everywhere will stand up against racism in their own communities,he said.If people do not remember and hear what happened in the Holocaust, then it can happen again. Stories like this will not be around forever. This is a unique opportunity to hear her speak.

WVU Hillel on the Net:http://www.geocities.com/wvuhillel/