CCCC instructor set to present Holocaust survival story

SANFORD, N.C. — CCCC will commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day with “Hope Gives Courage: the Lili Wider Blumenstein Holocaust Story,” a lecture by CCCC Instructor Ashley Riley focused on Blumenstein’s incredible story of survival. 

The event is free and open to the public. It will take place Jan. 27, from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. in Rooms 111 and 112 of the Dennis A. Wicker Civic & Conference Center in Sanford. 

Riley, who has taught at CCCC since 2016, is also a doctoral candidate at Indiana University Bloomington. Her research focuses on Holocaust literature and how texts help students understand agency and respond to racism and prejudice. She has a connection through a family friend to Leah “Lili” Wider Blumenstein, a Holocaust survivor who died in 2008. 

Blumenstein was born in Transylvania and grew up in a close Jewish family and community. As a teenager, she was deported with her family to Auschwitz, where she survived brutal camp conditions, forced labor, and death marches. She later wrote a memoir about her experiences. 

The lecture is a joint project of CCCC’s Academic and Cultural Enrichment Series and the college’s Arts Career Community. For more information or group reservations, call (919) 718-7470 or email bstumpf@cccc.edu.