Calvin’s Covenant Fine Arts Center is packed. Crowds have gathered around Michigan, across the United States and Canada, and as far away as Lithuania. It is the fifth day of the January Series, and Holocaust survivor Tova Friedman is ushered on stage by an eruption of applause.
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“I really should clap for you because your coming here means that the story won’t be forgotten,” Friedman begins. In the next hour, she shares her story—a story of pain, resilience and hope for better.
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At age 5, Friedman was taken to the Auschwitz concentration camp with her parents. There they endured dehumanizing treatment including being called by number instead of by name, facing near starvation and—for Tova—a trip to the gas chambers, where her life was miraculously spared. ��

Having gone through the unthinkable, Friedman knows the darkness society is capable of. But she also knows the power of sharing a story. “As a witness, I have to talk to people like you,” she tells the crowd. “I just hope that because I was saved, I can save somebody else in some way.”
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Friedman inspired January Series viewers near and far, in good company with the 14 other speakers in this year’s lineup, including Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, justice advocate Bryan Stevenson, jazz promoter Alyce Claerbaut ’69 and Calvin chemistry professor Larry Louters.
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“The stories were particularly strong this year,” said January Series director Kristi Potter. “There were so many stories told that flowed one into another.”��

Potter noted how the series began with storytelling guru Bobette Buster setting the stage and concluded with author Jerry Sittser sharing, as Potter says, “how we can grow our souls through difficult stories.”

Perhaps entrepreneur Josh Linkner, one of this year’s January Series speakers, summed up the 15 days best when he observed, “What [the series] really does is plant seeds of hope for people, and you really don’t know where they’re going to take root.”

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