On the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we organize scientific meetings every year as part of the Shoah – Let Us Remember event, to inform the public about the latest findings in the field of Holocaust history.
As part of the scientific meeting Each Year One Name, we present the life stories of people, both those who were victims of the Nazi destruction machine during World War II and those who tried to help those victims. These were the so called Righteous Among Nations. Yad Vashem, the world documentary, research, educational and commemorative center of the Holocaust, has been researching their stories since 1963, awarding them the title of Righteous Among Nations for their courageous and selfless deeds. There are also some Slovenes among them.
This year’s international scientific meeting is dedicated to the Slovenian Righteous France Punčuh. He was born in 1902 in Dolenji Logatec. From 1923 he lived in Warsaw, where he studied and later got a job at the Embassy of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. He was married to a Polish Jew. He helped many Jews by taking over their property, which would otherwise have been confiscated. This allowed them to escape from the Warsaw Ghetto. He also helped hide the Jews and provided them with food. In 1944, during the Warsaw Uprising, he was killed by a bullet from the German occupation army. He was buried in Warsaw, and since 1971 he has been buried in the Logatec cemetery at his wife’s request. On August 15, 2004, Yad Vashem awarded France Punčuh the honorary title of Righteous Among Nations.
His story will be presented at a scientific meeting by prof. Boris Hajdinjak. We will also listen to a lecture by dr. Krzysztof Bielawski on the Polish Righteous and the revival of forgotten history. Prof. Roman Mirnik will present the merchant and industrialist Josip Rosenberg. In the second part of the meeting, dr. Gerald Lamprecht spoke about the destruction of the Jewish community in Styria, Austria. We will find out how Jews tried to save their lives in various ways before Nazism in a lecture by mag. Franc Kuzmič. Mag. Renato Podbersič will then talk about the attempt to rebuild the Jewish community in Gorizia after the end of the Second World War. The last lecture will be given by dr. Anna Maria Grünfelder entitled After the War: Displaced and Repatriated Persons.
The scientific meeting, which will take place in the Glezerjeva Hall of the University of Maribor Library, will be opened by Marjetka Bedrač, v. d. director of the Center of Jewish Cultural Heritage Synagogue Maribor and dr. Zdenka Petermanec, director of the University of Maribor Library. The gathered guests and the audience will also be addressed by dr. Igor Vojtic, vice-president of the Jewish Community of Slovenia.
The meeting is organized in cooperation with the University of Maribor Library as part of the Shoah – Let Us Remember 2016 project, which was supported by the Municipality of Maribor and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia.
Honorary sponsor of the Shoah project – Let Us Remember 2016 is dr. Milan Brglez, President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia.
