Holocaust Survivor to Share his Story at Holy Cross

WORCESTER, Mass. – Max Michelson, Holocaust survivor, will share his story Tues., Sept. 25 at 7 p.m. in the Hogan Campus Center Ballroom at the College of the Holy Cross.  The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Center for Religion, Ethics, and Culture at Holy Cross with support from the Kraft-Hiatt Fund for Jewish-Christian Understanding.

Michelson was born in Riga, Latvia where he lived with his family, when the country was overrun by the German army in June 1941 and the entire local Jewish community was forced into the Riga Ghetto.  Following the liquidation of the Ghetto in December 1941, he was constrained in numerous concentration camps and was finally liberated in Germany in May 1945.

Michelson, the sole survivor of his family, came to the U.S. after World War II.  He received his B.S.E.E. in electronic engineering from City College of New York, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in physics from Boston University. Upon completion of his undergraduate education in New York City, he settled in Massachusetts and now resides in Framingham.  He is retired from Raytheon, where he was a consulting scientist working in the design of radar systems.

He is the author of a memoir, City of Life, City of Death, Memories of Riga, (University Press of Colorado, 2001). The book details his childhood in Latvia before World War II, and describes in- depth his experiences and miraculous survival during the Holocaust.

He and his wife Julia, a retired social worker, are very active in the Jewish community.  They are co-founders and former presidents of the Jewish Family Service of Metrowest, and are long time members of Temple Beth Am.  He is a former president of the Greater Framingham Jewish Federation. About The Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture:

Established in 2001 and housed in Smith Hall, the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture provides resources for faculty and course development, sponsors conferences and college-wide teaching events, hosts visiting fellows, and coordinates a number of campus lecture series. Rooted in the College's commitment to invite conversation about basic human questions, the Center welcomes persons of all faiths and seeks to foster dialogue that acknowledges and respects differences, providing a forum for intellectual exchange that is interreligious, interdisciplinary, intercultural, and international in scope.  The Center also brings members of the Holy Cross community into conversation with the Greater Worcester community, the academic community, and the wider world to examine the role of faith and inquiry in higher education and in the larger culture.