Even though the air was chilly Monday night and the hands on the Bell Tower were silently inching toward 1 a.m., a small group of students were gathered in the Pit listening to one of their peers read from a long list of names at a small podium. These students were gathered together for the annual Reading of the Names, an event which commemorates people who died in the Holocaust by reading their names out loud for 24 hours. The event was sponsored by the NC Hillel, but featured the cooperation of over 10 other groups.
Students came to the center of the Pit to read names from a book containing several thousand names.
“People read usually for 5-10 minutes, but they can read as long or short as they want,” explained sophomore Audrey Singer.
“I read about 30-40 names,” said freshman Brianna Brodie.
Participants could sign up to read names in advance through one of the co-sponsoring organizations or they could just come to the Pit and wait for a turn. The students, surrounded by candles and ribbons honoring the victims, said that they held a solemn spirit of remembrance and reverence for those who were lost in the Holocaust.
“I feel like it was a way to take time to honor the people who suffered,” Brodie said.
“It’s kind of just respect for all of the people who were starved or frozen or gassed or whatever because they were different,” said freshman Danny Rosenberg.
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