Community

Community programs at United Hebrew Congregation Terre Haute

Speakers, audience, highlight acts of resistance in Yom HaShoah event at UHC sanctuary

By Debra Israel
unitedhebrewth Leave a comment

Thanks to Scott Skillman for organizing and to Ken Turetzky for emceeing such a meaningful Yom HaShoah program April 16 in our UHC sanctuary.

The theme of the program was not only remembrance of the Holocaust and other atrocities, but learning about acts of resistance, while encouraging us to continue to resist oppression in our world today.

It was so heartening to see the sanctuary filled with supportive community members coming together, actively taking a stand against antisemitism and racism.

Read More

Louise Sommers’s life ‘an important Holocaust story about survival, continuity’

By Ken Turetzky
unitedhebrewth Leave a comment

Safely settled in 1941 with her father and sister in the U.S., 16-year-old Louise Sommers wrote, “The day after my seventh birthday, my mother suddenly died. Since then, things have never been the same.

“It seems that with my mother’s death, a chain of misfortune started. Hitler came to power and my uncle was beaten up, put into prison by the Nazis and later fled to France….Terrible things happened in Germany.”

Louise’s daughter Nancy Sommers found Louise’s youthful autobiography a few years ago and shared this excerpt as guest speaker for “Creating Light From Darkness and Optimism out of Tragedy”, the third annual Yom HaShoah event May 5 at UHC to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Read More

Dr. Nancy Sommers to honor her mother, Louise, as Yom HaShoah keynote speaker at UHC

By Terry Fear
unitedhebrewth Leave a comment

Dr. Nancy Sommers, a native of Terre Haute and former member of United Hebrew Congregation, will be keynote speaker for Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) at 7 p.m. Sunday, May 5, at UHC.

Her subject will be “My Mother’s Story — Creating Light from Darkness and Optimism out of Tragedy”. Dr. Sommers’s mother is longtime UHC member Louise Levite Sommers, a Holocaust survivor and resident of Terre Haute.

The program is sponsored by UHC and CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center.

Read More