CVCC instructor has an inside view on the Holocaust

www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/8450169.htm

Posted on Fri, Apr. 16, 2004

Amy Porche has a sister named Nancy in Louisiana who’s mentally retarded from a complicated birth that deprived her of oxygen. When Amy was a child of about 8 years old, her mother told her that during World War II Hitler put to death those he deemed imperfect.

“I remember her saying to me, ‘Your sister would have been among the first,’ and I knew then how unjust that would be,” said Porche, 34. “I felt such a sense of rage and protection. All the emotions came through.”

Porche, an instructor in English at Chattahoochee Valley Community College, is the speaker Sunday at the annual Holocaust Remembrance Service at Columbus’ Temple Israel. A member of Holy Family Catholic Church, she met Rabbi Tom Friedmann of Temple Israel earlier this year when he came to speak to her students. She is not the first Christian to speak for the temple’s annual service, and Friedmann said he picked her for a local perspective.

“She is dedicated to students, teaching about Holocaust,” Friedmann said. “She has an inside view.”