As part of Holocaust Awareness Week, Colorado State University is hosting a series of events that include a keynote from a Holocaust survivor.

The weeklong event, running from Friday, Feb. 16, to Friday, Feb. 23, features a talk with Esther Basch, a 96-year-old Holocaust survivor, on Wednesday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m. in the Lory Student Center Main Ballroom. The series also includes community gatherings, discussions and a film screening throughout the week.

Basch, 96, who was placed on a cattle car and traveled to the Auschwitz concentration camp on her 16th birthday, is giving a talk on how to overcome hatred with resilience, grace, dignity, love and forgiveness by sharing her personal story of survival.

Holocaust Awareness Week events are organized by Students for Holocaust Awareness at CSU, co-sponsored by the Associated Students of CSU, the Residence Hall Association, the Lory Student Center, International Programs, Hillel, Chabad, the AEPI fraternity and the SAEPI sorority.

Lauren Maskus, president of Students for Holocaust Awareness at CSU, explained that Holocaust Awareness Week is an enduring tradition that has gone on for a quarter of a century at CSU.

“The weeklong program’s enduring legacy lies in its ability to consistently attract audiences, driven by the poignant narratives shared by survivors,” Maskus said. “These accounts serve to illuminate the profound truths of the Holocaust, all the while imparting invaluable lessons to today’s generations.”

Events start on Friday, Feb. 16, at 1 p.m. at the LSC Plaza, where students and staff will begin setting up the Field of Flags on the plaza to represent the lives lost in the Holocaust.

From Monday through Wednesday, volunteers will read the names of those lost in the Litany of Martyrs on the plaza from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. In case of inclement weather, the reading will move inside the LSC.

On Monday, Feb. 19, the film “The Windermere Children” will be shown at 7 p.m. in the LSC Theatre. The biographical drama recounts the story of the pioneering project to rehabilitate child survivors of the Holocaust on the shores of Lake Windermere in England.

On Tuesday, Feb. 20, at noon, Deborah Yalen, associate professor and member of the Advisory Council for Jewish Inclusion at CSU, will give a talk on “Couriers, Book Smugglers, and Song Writers: Modes of Jewish Resistance during the Holocaust” in LSC Room 386. It will be followed by a discussion of highlights of recent scholarship on modes of resistance and a chance to listen to some Soviet Yiddish anti-Nazi songs with translated lyrics at CSU.

The week concludes on Friday, Feb. 23, with the Field of Flags take-down and Memorial and Walk to Remember at 1 p.m. on the Plaza or in the LSC Theater lobby, weather depending.

Rabbi Yerachmiel Gorelik, faculty advisor for Students for Holocaust Awareness Week at CSU, explained that with the recent tragedy in Israel, the lessons of the Holocaust resonate more than ever. “We are so grateful for these incredible individuals who offer us hope and joy in our own lives as they inspire us with their extraordinary stories of hope, survival and triumph,” he said.