News

Please join us in welcoming Korean Comfort Women who will travel from South Korea to QCC to share their stories with student interns and Holocaust Survivors

Published: July 03, 2013

“I was running an errand when I was grabbed, thrown on a truck with other girls and taken to China. The Japanese soldiers beat us, starved us and kept us from warmth in the winter.”

These were among the memories recently relayed via video from South Korea by the Korean Comfort Women survivors to QCC students in the Asian Internship Program.

On July 11, those same students will meet face to face with the Comfort Women they interviewed.

The event will be held in the Kupferberg Holocaust Resource Center and Archives, a sleek 9,000 square-foot structure of glass, steel, Jerusalem stone and brick, located at the entrance to the campus.

Date: July 11, 2013
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Where: Kupferberg Holocaust Resource Center and Archives
Queensborough Community College
222-05 56th Avenue
Bayside, N.Y. 11364

“I can never fully understand how Ok Sun Lee felt, but I know she thought of her family each day and feared for her life,” said Hephzibah Premkumar, one of the student interns who participated in the video interviews.

“Our students—several of whom had never heard of the Korean Comfort Women—were visibly shaken by what they learned during these interviews,” said Dr. Arthur Flug, Executive Director of the Kupferberg Holocaust Center and Archives (KHRCA). “The reactions are the same for our Holocaust survivor student interns who study the history of the Holocaust, interview survivors and then share their stories with others, ensuring that when the last survivor is gone, their stories shall not be forgotten.”

A partnership between the KHRCA and Korean American Civic Empowerment (KACE) was established in 2011 to ensure that both Queensborough’s students and broader communities will never forget what happened in Korea during WWII. The initiative serves as a potent educational method for preserving the memories of survivors and teaching about the impact of unbridled prejudice.

Attendees expected to be present include Congresswoman Grace Meng; NYC Councilman Peter Koo; NYS Assemblyman Ron Kim; members of Korean American Civic Empowerment (KACE); Holocaust survivors; student interns and other local elected officials.