Beacon College’s next Salon Speaker Series presentation will feature A Ukrainian Symphony of Survival on Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. at the Venetian Center.
Greg and Candy Dawson shed light on the little-known dawn of the Holocaust, the slaughter of a million Jews in Ukraine who were shot in open pits even before Auschwitz and other death camps began gassing Jews. They tell this through the story of Greg’s mother and her younger sister, both piano prodigies, who miraculously escaped a Nazi death march and survived the war by assuming non-Jewish identities and performing for the Nazis.
They fast-forward to the war in Ukraine and an equally miraculous full-circle sequel to his mother’s story. Amazingly, 80 years after a Christian family in Ukraine sheltered his mother and aunt, his family facilitated refuge in America for the descendants of that family fleeing Putin’s war.
Tickets are free, and registration is required at https://secure.qgiv.com/for/beaconsalonseries2024-2025/event/dawson/.
In its eighth year, the Beacon Salon Speaker Series at Beacon College is the school’s flagship community education outreach program. The Speaker Series brings in speakers, educators, authors and entertainers from Florida and around the country to educate, edify and entertain by exploring Florida history, waxing poetic, delving into popular culture and clenching the political third rail.
Channeling its ethos from the Parisian salons of the Enlightenment, the Speaker Series honors the colleges sacrosanct duty as an institution of higher learning to uplift the community in which it operates, spark engagement and sow seeds of conversation and discovery.