The wind blew through the microphone like thunder as Sam Goldman read a passage illustrating the horrid and demising Jewish Holocaust in Europe during World War II.

Goldman, a professor of education of administration, attended and read for the initial event of April’s Jewish Awareness Month Monday morning at the Free Forum Area.

There is no proof that there was a holocaust at all, he read. But, you have not seen your children carried away by the enemy, your parents burned in the fire, entire communities reduced to ashes.

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In front of a small crowd, listeners and passersby, about 20 faculty members and students representing different organizations read passages and poetry from books containing personal memoirs of the Holocaust. A list of Holocaust victims also was read during the poignant service.

Austin Schwartz, a junior in psychology from Skokie, helped organize the event by contacting a variety of people to read at the event.

It’s so nice to see the campus working together for a change, he said. We were trying to get a diverse group of people to work together for the same cause.

Jewish Awareness Month honors Jews who were persecuted in Germany beginning one month after Adolf Hitler became chancellor Jan. 30, 1933. Hitler’s attempt to rid the country of those branded by the Jewish Star of David was carried out for 12 years.

Though the number of those killed in German concentration camps is ambiguous, it is estimated that as many as 4 million to 6 million Jews were subject to inhumane forms of carnage in the extermination camps.

Jim Kling, a senior in computer science from Newark, attended the event and was reminded of the stories that his father told him during his adolescence.

My dad used to tell me stories of how his grandparents were in concentration camps, he said. I can’t remember much more than he told me, but now I am more sympathetic to those victims of the Holocaust.

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Kling also believed honoring the Jewish community by surfacing memories of German persecution would help to decrease the chances of history repeating itself.

Look at what’s going on in Yugoslavia right now, he said. The cleansing for a pure race is occurring as we speak. Luckily, if we can get awareness across to members of our community, it won’t happen here.