Susan Cernyak-Spatz, a Holocaust survivor, will share her life experiences on Tuesday with an American Literature-American History class at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College.
The class is from 9:30 – 11:45 a.m., room 106, building 1000, on the south campus, 1531 Trinity Church Road, Concord.
Cernyak-Spatz, born in Vienna in 1922, lived through the atrocities of the Holocaust. She became a refugee in 1938 and was interned in concentration camps from 1942 to 1945, including the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau camp.
She is a professor emerita of German literature at UNC-Charlotte and maintains a busy schedule of talks and lectures in the United States and Europe.
The combination American literature and history course is taught by instructors Sandie Barnhouse and Sherylle Smith. The course blends history textbooks and other materials with period literature and multiple guest lecturers. Students participate in book-club-type meetings and teach the rest of the class through oral presentations. Each class also conducts a community service project. Past projects have included fundraising efforts for tsunami and hurricane victims, cleaning and grounds upkeep for a local hospice, and service to a women and children’s shelter.
The event is open to the public.
Reservations for seating can be made by contacting the instructors, Sandie Barnhouse, sandra.barnhouse @ rccc.edu or Sherylle Smith, sherylle.smith@rccc.edu.