Holocaust survivor who lives in Arlington Hts. to speak at Harper College

Holocaust survivor Mitchell Winthrop, who lives in Arlington Heights, will visit Harper College to discuss his harrowing experience and inspirational story of survival as part of the One Book, One Harper community reading initiative.

Winthrop's appearance will take place from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 14, in the Drama Lab Theatre, Building L, Room L109, on Harper's main campus, 1200 W. Algonquin Road in Palatine. It is free and open to the public.

Winthrop was born Mietek Weintraub in November 1926 in Lodz, Poland.

The Lodz ghetto was formed and soon sealed in early 1940 when he was 13 years old. Winthrop worked as a carpenter in the ghetto and in an electrical plant. Although schools were forbidden, he and other teenagers were able to take clandestine classes, studying math and sciences such as metallurgy.

He remained in the ghetto until it was finally closed and the surviving Jews sent to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in August 1944. Winthrop was liberated by the U.S. Army at Mauthausen and lived in a displaced persons camp in Germany.

With the help of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, he was able to come to the U.S. in 1948, first to New York and then to Toledo, where he worked cutting fabric in a clothing factory. He eventually earned a master's degree in Slavic languages and literatures from the University of Chicago and taught at Purdue University and in the Chicago Public Schools.

One Book, One Harper encourages the community to read the same book and take part in a variety of related academic, cultural and social activities. This year's selection is "The Greatest Generation" by Tom Brokaw, who coined the term to describe the men and women who came of age during the Great Depression and World War II.

For information, contact Amy Kammerman at (847) 925-6555, or akammerm@harpercollege.edu. Visit harpercollege.edu/library for more details about One Book, One Harper.