Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony This Month At Fairfield University

FAIRFIELD, CT — On April 16, Fairfield University’s Bennett Center for Judaic Studies will hold its 2026 Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony featuring Shay Pilnik, PhD, director of the Emil A. and Jenny Fish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Yeshiva University.

The event is scheduled for 3 p.m. in Fairfield University's Kelley Center Presentation Room; it is free and open to the public, but advance registration is required.

Co-sponsoring the event are Campus Ministry and the Jewish Federation of Fairfield County.

Later this year, Fairfield University and the Fairfield University Art Museum will receive a Holocaust memorial sculpture, titled "She Wouldn’t Take Off Her Boots," which will serve as a lasting tribute to the courage of Holocaust victims and survivors and as a reminder of the importance of standing against injustice and promoting peace.

About Shay Pilnik, PhD, Director of the Emil A. and Jenny Fish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies:

The grandson of Holocaust survivors who immigrated to Israel from the USSR about a decade after the founding of the Jewish State, Dr. Pilnik is the Director of the Emil A. and Jenny Fish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Prior to becoming the Fish Center's founding Director in 2020, he was the Executive Director of the Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center (HERC) in Milwaukee from 2014 till 2020.

He earned his BA from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he studied Comparative Literature and Jewish Thought, followed by an MA in Jewish Studies from McGill University, and a PhD in Modern Jewish Studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2013. Dr. Pilnik is also the author of "The Ravine of Memory: Babyn Yar Between the Holocaust and the Great Patriotic War" (Purdue University Press, 2025).

Event Summary

Speaker: Shay Pilnik, PhD, director of the Emil A. and Jenny Fish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Event: Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony

Date & Location: Apr. 16, 3 p.m., Kelley Center Presentation Room, Fairfield University

RSVP: Required for in-person at fairfield.edu/bennett