The free event is part of the traveling ‘Americans and the Holocaust’ exhibition and will include a question-and-answer session with the audience

Organ Mountain News report

LAS CRUCES - Holocaust survivor Andy Holten will speak Sept. 3 at New Mexico State University’s Zuhl Library about his experiences as a hidden child during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.

The free event, “A Holocaust Testimony: Experiences of a Hidden Child during the Nazi Occupation of the Netherlands,” is scheduled from 3 to 4 p.m. on the third floor of Zuhl Library, 2911 McFie Circle.

A question-and-answer session with the audience will follow Holten’s talk.

Holten was 2 1/2 years old at the start of World War II and survived the Holocaust by concealing his identity and being separated from his parents. He remained with the people who rescued him for another 10 years before emigrating to the United States.

He later earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from City College of New York, became a U.S. citizen and served as a U.S. Air Force officer. Holten went on to work in combat aircraft design and testing and later supported the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center in Albuquerque.

After retiring, he worked as a substitute teacher and has become a frequent speaker about his wartime experiences.

The event is part of “Americans and the Holocaust,” a traveling exhibition from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and American Library Association examining the motives, pressures and fears that shaped Americans’ responses to Nazism, war and genocide in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s.

NMSU Library was selected as one of 50 U.S. libraries to host the touring exhibition between 2024 and 2026.

The exhibition is on display at Zuhl Library through Sept. 25, with related public events scheduled each Thursday afternoon during the exhibition period.

Admission is free and all ages are welcome.

For more information, call 575-646-7711 or visit the NMSU Library’s “Americans and the Holocaust” exhibition page.