Scholar and author Robert H. Gillette to give virtual presentation for Holocaust Remembrance Day

Scholar and author Robert H. Gillette will give a virtual presentation at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 26, on “Escape to Virginia: From Nazi Germany to Thalhimer’s Farm” in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The event is free and open to the Bridgewater College community as well as to the public. Participants must register in advance at: bridgewater.edu/remembranceday.

Gillette will speak about the bold plan of Richmond-based department store owner William B. Thalhimer to create a safe haven for Jewish teenagers trying to escape from Nazi Germany; he will also discuss the struggle of these refugees to make a new home in rural Virginia. Join the presentation to hear the remarkable true story of these German-Jewish teenagers who endured the emotional torture of their adolescence, journeyed to freedom and confronted the evil that could not destroy their spirit.