Monday night the Department of Writing and Linguistics at Georgia Southern University hosted award winning professor and scholar Sara Horowitz for a night of revealing discussion on mother-daughter relationships during the Holocaust.

Horowitz’s presentation, “The Tenderest Torments: Mothers and Daughters in the Holocaust,” shared several first-hand accounts from Holocaust survivors explaining the complexities of mother-daughter relationships in that setting.

The accounts ranged from stories of mothers doing anything for their children to tales of desperation and hopelessness.

“I just thought it was fascinating, it was an interesting take on the Holocaust that I had never thought about before, I was very pleased our school could have someone of Dr. Horowitz’s stature present for us,” Phyllis Dallas, chair of the Writing and Linguistics Department, said.

The Arts Building auditorium was filled to capacity for the presentation.

“We were really pleased with the turnout, the building was completely filled, everything about the talk was wonderful and insightful,” Lisa Costello, organizer of the talk and assistant professor in the Writing and Linguistics Department, said.

“She [Horowitz] shared research that is brand new, some of the unpublished testimonies and memoirs haven’t been shared before, we’re really excited she was able to share some of her knowledge with us at Georgia Southern,” Costello said.

The vast majority of the audience was comprised of GSU students.

Rachel Welch, senior Writing and Linguistics major at GSU, said, “I really enjoyed her [Dr. Horowitz’s] take on it, I’ve never thought of the Holocaust viewed through the relationship of mothers and their daughters, the whole thing was very interesting and engaging, definitely something to think about.”