Standing in the cool March breeze yesterday afternoon, geological sciences Prof. Jim Wessel Walker embraced his daughter Margaret as a student solemnly read the names of Holocaust victims.
Wessel Walker came to the Diag with his wife Donna and their 12-and 10-year-old daughters to witness the 24-hour Memorial of Names in remembrance of Holocaust victims, which began yesterday at noon and ends with a memorial service at noon today on the Diag.
"I'm always very moved," Wessel Walker said. "We come down here every year and find it a very powerful experience."
The vigil is part of the 18th Annual Conference on the Holocaust, sponsored by the campus organization Hillel and continues through next Friday.
Prayer and song at today's memorial service, where English Prof. Ralph Williams will be speaking, will mark an end to the vigil.
Different student groups signed up for one-hour time slots in order to ensure that names were read continuously. Many fraternities and sororities, as well as Hillel groups and members of the LSA student government, signed up to participate, said conference chair Marnie Holtzman.
LSA sophomore Brett Rothman, who has served on the Holocaust Conference Committee for two years, said that committee members planned to take turns monitoring the vigil. "I will be here from 12 a.m. to 6 a.m.," Rothman said.
Rothman said that reading the names of Holocaust victims can often be difficult but serves an important purpose. "It's hard, but it's important to remember people and gives you a chance to put (names) to six million people," she said.
Members of Delta Sigma Phi fraternity volunteered to read names from 1 to 2 a.m. earlier this morning.
"There was a lot of enthusiasm in the house ... to participate in this particular event," said LSA first-year student Evan Minskoff, the fraternity's philanthropy chair.
Minskoff said the vigil was meant to be a poignant experience at any time of the day.
"I think that anytime you do such a thing, whether it's one o'clock in the morning or the afternoon, it's still going to be just as solemn an event," Minskoff said.
LSA first-year student Beth Shyken, who passed out fliers as names were being read yesterday afternoon, said she wondered why students who refused to take fliers were so indifferent. "I've asked myself that over and over because to me, the Holocaust is something that needs to be remembered," she said.
"Maybe they don't have time, but I really don't understand why they don't want information on it," Shyken said.
As volunteers took turns reading the names under a blue canvas tarp, several passers-by stopped to listen or just see what was going on.
"We have to teach people every year ... that these types of things do go on and you shouldn't just sit back and let it happen," said LSA sophomore Tamar Lipof, who took a few moments to listen to names.
Lipof said the tragedy of the Holocaust is a testament to the harmful effects of human apathy.
"People sat back for too long and that's why there are so many names that we read off."
JEANNIE SERVAAS/Daily
The Wessel Walker family watches as names of Holocaust victims are read on the Diag. Geological sciences Prof. Jim Wessel Walker hugs daughter Margaret.