For Chhange's 2023 International Holocaust Remembrance Day Commemoration, we will be joined by Dr. John Withers II as he shares his father's story of courageous kindness in the wake of WWII.

In May 1945, as World War II ended, an all-Black U.S. Army truck company led by Lieutenant John L. Withers rushed emergency supplies to an unknown German town. Longtime victims of the harsh racial abuses of the Jim Crow-era, these soldiers were horrified by what they found when the “town” turned out to be the Dachau concentration camp. Days later, two destitute young Jews, former Dachau inmates, appeared at their encampment and pleaded for help. Housing non-military personnel was strictly forbidden—yet, the soldiers, with their lieutenant’s endorsement, chose to shelter the boys.

Please join us for this riveting presentation by John Withers II, son of Lieutenant Withers. His book, Balm in Gilead, is a compelling account of his father’s company during WWII and their unique interaction with these two young Holocaust survivors.