Holocaust survivor Eisenbach aims to eliminate genocide

Holocaust survivor Jacob Eisenbach delivered a powerful message to a crowded McMurtry Auditorium inside Duncan Hall Feb. 17. At 96 years old, the man who survived brutal conditions in a Jewish ghetto in Nazi-occupied Poland, deportation to the Soviet Union and forced labor in a Russian armament facility “grinding the bullets the Nazis used to kill us” now travels the nation as a public speaker with the goal of eliminating the roots of genocide.

Quoting author and fellow Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, Eisenbach spoke of their shared philosophy: that of a witness who believes he has “a moral obligation to try to prevent the enemy from enjoying one last victory by allowing his crimes to be erased from human history.” Eisenbach’s talk, illustrated with family photos he was lucky enough to obtain from a cousin in Buenos Aires, Argentina, after World War II, was followed by an extensive Q&A session with the crowd.

Rice president David Leebron greets Jacob Eisenbach as Rabbi Shmuli Slonim looks on.

Eisenbach was introduced by Rabbi Shmuli Slonim of Rice’s Chabad House, which organized the evening along with support from the Boniuk Institute for Religious Tolerance, the Program in Jewish Studies, the School of Social Sciences and Houston Hillel. (Photos by Jeff Fitlow)