BHEC Book Club to honor Wiesel

In Orthodox Judaism, there is a year of mourning after someone dies. During the year of mourning following the death of Elie Wiesel in July, the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center plans to honor the author and humanitarian through a new book club.

BHEC will kick off its book club Nov. 9, which is also the anniversary of Kristallnacht, or the night of broken glass, when hundreds of synagogues were destroyed, thousands of Jewish-owned shops were sacked and looted and tens of thousands of Jews were taken to concentration camps in Germany in 1938. 

The book club’s first read will be “Night” by Elie Wiesel, something BHEC Executive Director Rebecca Dobrinski said many people read in high school and will now be able to read from a new perspective.

“People have been reading ‘Night’ quite a bit, and many of them are re-reading it,” Dobrinski said. 

Everyone will read the book before the Nov. 9 club, and Dobrinski said the number of attendees likely will be limited due to space restrictions in the center.

An introduction on the history of the Holocaust will precede the book discussion, she said, and they will likely work to tie the book’s themes to modern times.

“It’ll be interesting, because it’s the day after the election,” Dobrinski said.

In addition to learning more about Wiesel, Dobrinski said the BHEC hopes attendees will learn more about the center, and that the book club will help further the BHEC’s goal of increasing community knowledge about the history of the Holocaust.

The book club will likely take place on a quarterly basis, and they aim to cover a variety of topics. “We want to eventually make it as broad as we can,” Dobrinski said. “While it builds knowledge, it isn’t sequential knowledge, so you can come in and out as topics interest you.”

Church Street Coffee & Books in Mountain Brook is sponsoring the book club by providing coffee, and copies of “Night” are available at the shop. Other copies also are available to borrow from the BHEC.

BHEC Book Club premiere

WHEN: Nov. 9, 6:30 p.m.

WHERE: 2222 Arlington Ave. S. (Bayer Properties Building, ground floor)

MORE INFO: RSVP to 795-4176 or info@bhamholocausteducation.org by Nov. 7