New College selects Helen Fagin as 2011 Commencement Speaker

New College of Florida has announced that Dr. Helen Fagin will be this year’s Commencement speaker.

Fagin helped establish the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the nation’s World War II Memorial.

A holocaust survivor herself, Fagin was studying at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow when her studies were interrupted by Germany’s invasion of Poland. Holocaust resource Echoes and Reflections writes that a 17-year-old Fagin helped establish a clandestine school for her younger sister and other children in her ghetto. She narrowly escaped deportation and spent five and half years under Nazi persecution.

She moved to the United States in 1946 knowing little English, pursued her education, and eventually became a professor of English and Director of Judaic Studies at the University of Miami. In 1977, she received her Ph.D from the Union Institute and University in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Since retiring, she has dedicated herself to educating teachers on the moral lessons of the Holocaust.

In January, 2008, the Dr. Helen N. Fagin Holocaust and Genocide Collection was dedicated to New College’s Jane Bancroft Cook Library. The College also has a Helen N. Fagin Student Research Fund for studies on genocide and human rights violations, funded by an anonymous donor.

In an e-mail to the New College community announcing the selection, President Gordon Michalson wrote, “All those acquainted with Dr. Fagin know her to be a compelling moral witness who, against the background of her personal life, understands at first hand that higher education without the benefit of a moral compass is problematic at best and demonic at worst. It will be a privilege to have her involved in this year’s Commencement ceremonies.”

Commencement will take place on the New College bay front at 7pm, May 20.

Dana Ziegler, a student government representative, said Fagin received overwhelming support in a survey sent out to students. “Not surprising,” she added, “given her credentials as an inspiring Holocaust survivor, educator, and stirring orator.”