LEWISTON — Holocaust survivor Edith Lucas Pagelson nee Herz will be the guest speaker at “brown bag lunch” that Lewiston Mayor Laurent F. Gilbert, Sr., will host Tuesday, May 3.

The event is scheduled for noon at the Lewiston Public Library, Callahan Hall, 200 Lisbon St. It is being held as part of  National Days of Remembrance Week and is free and open to the public, according to a city press release.

“Mrs. Pagelson’s presentation will no doubt be very informative as we reflect upon the United States Holocaust Museum’s Days of Remembrance theme for 2011: ‘Justice and Accountability in the Face of Genocide: What Have We Learned?’” Gilbert said in a prepared statement. “As she shares her experiences, I trust that Mrs. Pagelson’s words will provide us with much to think about.”

According to the release, Pagelson was born to Albert and Flora Herz on Sept. 20, 1926, in Worms, Germany. She attended public school until 1936 when she was banned from attending.

The synagogue the family attended was burned on Nov. 10, 1938, and the hardware store family business/apartment were also destroyed.

On July 26, 1942, she and her parents were transported to Terezin concentration camp. Her father did not survive, but she and her mother were also shipped to Birkenau, then Auschwitz, Stutthof, and various work camps over a period of 3½ years. Previously, her sister Suse had been sent on a children’s transport to England.

Pagelson and her mother were liberated on Jan. 26, 1945, and following a long illness, Pagelson arrived in the United States in 1947, reuniting with her sister in New York. Pagelson currently resides in Falmouth, Maine.

A brief “What Have We Learned” video, compliments of the DC Holocaust Museum, will also be shown at the event.