Montgomery College’s Paul Peck Humanities Institute will host two events on April 12 at the Rockville Campus, as part of the College’s annual Holocaust Commemoration. The commemoration will include an afternoon performance of "An Evening with Madame F," by Claudia Stevens, and an evening performance of Songs of the Children of Terezin, performed by the Montgomery College Chorus. Prior to the evening performance, Holocaust survivor and educator Nesse Godin, a Silver Spring resident, will be presented an honorary degree for her dedication to the teaching and sharing of her memories of the Holocaust.

Holocaust Commemoration events are as follows:

• Thursday, April 12 at 11:30 a.m. in the Theatre Arts Arena—"An Evening with Madame F," performed by Claudia Stevens. Stevens’s acclaimed performance depicts, in music song, and drama, the experience of Fania Fenelon and other concentration camp musicians. This is one of the most honored Holocaust-related presentations before the public, with engagements in more than 80 cities and academic audiences nationwide. It was produced for television by PBS.

• Thursday, April 12 at 7 p.m. in the Theatre Arts Arena—Songs of the Children of Terezin, performed by the Montgomery College Chorus. This cantata, based on poems written by Jewish children imprisoned in the concentration camp Terezin, was composed in memory of all children who were murdered in the Holocaust.

• On display throughout the month of April in the Paul Peck Humanities Institute, Suite 212, Campus Tower—"Those Before Us," an art exhibit by Pauline Jakobsberg, will appear in the Paul Peck Humanities Institute.

Montgomery College honorary degree candidate Nessie Godin was born in Shauliai, Lithuania, where she lived with her parents and two brothers until the Nazi invasion. In 1950, she and her husband Jack, also a survivor, settled in the Washington, D.C. area. Mrs. Godin is co-president of the Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Friends of Greater Washington. She serves on the Board of the Jewish Community Council, United Jewish Appeal Federation, and many other worthy organizations. Her life story has been retold in numerous publications, including Washingtonian Magazine, Scholastic News, and The Gazette. She has also appeared in Walter Cronkite’s "In Memory of Millions" and the Bill Moyers’s "Beyond Hate."

The Human Rights Committee of Montgomery College’s Paul Peck Humanities Institute is sponsoring these events. The committee sponsors lectures, seminars and events that attempt to expose the effects of hatred and violence, and raise questions within the College and throughout the greater community to create constructive methods of understanding and reconciling differences.