Cumberland University, Lebanon Tennessee, Holds Yom Hashoah Remembrance

Runs with photo titled: Cumberland University, with cutline: Cumberland University President Paul Stumb and Jewish Federation of Greater Nashville's Scott O'Neal

Speaking recently to a standing room only audience of several hundred in Cumberland University’s historic Baird Chapel, Anya Bogusheva Baum, a Holocaust survivor, told of the loss of life her family sustained at the hands of Nazi soldiers and their collaborators during World War II. The program was made possible through partnership with The Tennessee Holocaust Commission. Rabbi Saul Strosberg, of Sherith Israel Synagogue, gave the opening prayer. Ms. Baum’s remarks were presented as the keynote address for the Lebanon university’s third annual Yom Hashoah, day of remembrance, event.

As the 93-year-old survivor, a native of Belarus in Eastern Europe, described in graphic detail how her family was murdered by German soldiers. Many in the audience, including students, local community leaders, officials of the university, and others, were visibly moved by her recollections.

She said she remembered well the many events that happened not only to her immediate family during the Holocaust but to others as well, such as Nazi soldiers committing masses of Jews into open graves that were dug by the victims themselves. She explained that she could remember these happenings and accounts because at the time she was 10-years-old. With the help of many strangers along the way, Ms. Baum was eventually able to immigrate to the U.S., where she attended art school and became a successful seamstress in California working with a number of high profile actors and entertainers. She now makes her home in Boca Raton, FL.

Dr. Paul Stumb, President of Cumberland University, said the Holocaust remembrance event is particularly important to the university for several reasons, including, among others, that U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull, a Cumberland alumnus, served during the World War II period and was credited in his role as Secretary of State with helping save many Jewish lives at the hands of Hitler’s aggression before and during the war.