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UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN IOWA CEDAR FALLS, IA THURSDAY, APRIL 5 VOLUME 114, ISSUE 42
CEDAR FALLS, IA INSIDE THIS ISSUE Panther eSports 2
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1 Snapchat encourages voting 4
VOLUME 115, ISSUE 20 Nightmare in Piazza 5 MVC cross country 8
Holocaust survivor visits Hearst Center PEYTON HUSMANN Staff Writer
The Hearst Center for the Arts was packed on Oct. 30 as people f locked to hear Holocaust survivor Steen Metz. There was only standing room left available as Metz told the story of how, as a child in Denmark, he and his family were arrested and taken to Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in Czechoslovakia. Metz’s main goal with his presentation, titled “My Story: Surviving the Holocaust,” was to reach as many people as possible. He had already reached over 60,000 people and hoped to eventually reach over 100,000, he said. “I have to tell you, I’m thrilled to see so many young people. You’re the future of America,” Metz said. “It’s very, very important to me to spread the word to as many people as possible.” Throughout his presentation, Metz highlighted how Denmark’s occupation was quite unique compared to that of other countries in Europe.
Denmark was occupied by Germany in April 1940. Metz said that for the first two-and-a-half years, conditions were relatively normal. He recalled how he and his family were even able to go on a vacation during the occupation. However, things changed for Metz and his family in 1943 when tensions began to rise between the people of Denmark and German soldiers. That year, the German army began looking for the small population of Jews living in Denmark. Metz said that a large number of the Jewish people in Denmark were able to escape to Sweden by hiding on boats that were traveling over the channel. Sadly, this was not the case for Metz and his family. On Oct. 2, 1943, Gestapo officers came knocking on the door of the Metz family’s home in Odense, Denmark. Metz was eight years old. He and his family were only given a 45-minutes notice to get their things packed. Along with about 60 other Jewish people in his hometown, Metz and his family were rounded up and thrown on a cargo train to
GABRIELLE LEITNER/Northern Iowan
Steen Metz, a Holocaust survivor from Denmark, gave a presentation on his experiences being arrested and taken to Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in Czechoslovakia in 1943.
be taken to the concentration camp. They were forced to travel on this train with no food or water for over 80 hours. They arrived at Theresienstadt concentration camp in Czechoslovakia, about 550 miles south of Denmark. Metz stressed that this particular camp
was solely a work or slave labor camp, not an extermination camp like Auschwitz. “We spent 18 months in the camp and my mother would refer to it as ‘18 months of hell,’” Metz said. During those months, Metz and his family were subjected to starvation and twelve-hour days of hard
work. Also, during this time, Metz’s father passed away due to the harsh conditions. Metz said that 35,000 of the over 100,000 inmates in the camp passed away in the three-year period that it was open. Most of those deaths were due to starvation.
a Cedar Rapids father of two who attended the rally. “We’re either going to go one way or the other, and it’s a crucial time to make a decision.” Barb Taber, another woman from Cedar Rapids who came to the event, expressed her excitement ahead of next week’s vote. “I’m very excited about it,” she said. “Everybody has to get
out and vote. It’s very important.” First to the podium was Troy Price, the chair of the Iowa Democratic Party. He began the night by welcoming the crowd, including a few notable guests: former first lady of Iowa Christie Vilsack and Tim Gannon, the Democratic nominee for Iowa secretary of agriculture. Price was followed by Tucker Cassidy, a man with a quadriplegic disability who was shot in 1994 and has been featured in recent television ads in support of health care. Cassidy is also the nephew of Lieutenant Gubernatorial candidate Rita Hart. He talked about how the privatization of Medicaid had affected him and his disability, while emphasizing the importance of all Iowans getting out to vote. Rita Hart, a state senator for Iowa’s 49th senate district running for lieutenant governor, took the stage next. “In one week, Iowa will make a decision,” Hart said in
her opening statement. “That decision will be a decision of change.” Hart, who graduated from UNI with a bachelor’s degree in education, was elected to represent Clinton and Scott counties in the Iowa Senate in 2012 and was re-elected again in 2014. “If we do our job and work hard, we will be able to forge a movement that will move this state forward,” she explained. Gubernatorial candidate Fred Hubbell followed his running mate, stating “I’m running for governor of our state to put people first. We need change.” Hubbell, a fifth-generation Iowan, then recalled one of the most difficult moments of his life, when he and his wife Charlotte were taken hostage in 1981 during an airplane hijacking on a Pakistan International Airlines flight. Hubbell explained how the experience made him want to give back to the public.
See SURVIVOR, page 3
Former VP visits Iowa ahead of elections JOEL WAUTERS/Northern Iowan
JOEL WAUTERS
Sports Editor
Hundreds poured into the Veterans Memorial Building in downtown Cedar Rapids on Tuesday, Oct. 30, to see former Vice President Joe Biden speak ahead of the Nov. 6 midterm elections. Biden, who served as the
47th Vice President of the United States under President Barack Obama, had also served as a U.S. senator from Delaware from 1973 until 2009. As part of his appearance, he helped rally support for the Iowa gubernatorial election and first congressional district race. “I feel like the country’s at a tipping point,” said Greg Kanz,
See BIDEN, page 2