On September 1, 1939, when the Germans invaded Poland, Rachel Miller 's father had only one comment.

“This is the beginning of doom,” he said.

During a class chapel last semester, students listened raptly as Miller told her story of horror and survival during one of the worst periods in modern history, the Holocaust.

Miller 's family had emigrated from Warsaw to Paris the year before she was born, fearing the anti-Semitism that had begun to spread. Sadly, for her parents and siblings, the move to France didn't save them. The Nazis first imprisoned Miller 's father and uncle after a collaborator had them arrested. As the war progressed, her mother, both her brothers and sister went to their deaths at Auschwitz.

“I lost 93 people in the war,” said Miller.

On a table near the podium were photographs of her family. Miller is one of the few survivors to have such precious mementos.

Sophomore class president Derek Velazco first considered bringing a Holocaust survivor to campus last summer. He asked Karen Strand Winslow, who teaches Jewish-Christian Studies at G.C., how to locate someone. Winslow suggested he contact the St. Louis Holocaust Museum and Learning Center. It was there he found Miller.

“I thought it was an area (where) a lot of people were ignorant,” said Velazco. He believes Miller 's talk “put a realistic face on the Holocaust.”

“A movie 's a movie, but to hear a person 's story makes more of an impact.”

Also attending the chapel was Dr.Peggy Allan 's 7th grade class.

Miller hoped her message would teach everyone who listened an important lesson. “I wanted to tell my story because there are people out there who believe the Holocaust never happened,” she said.“Now when someone says that,you can tell them you actually met someone who lived through it.”

Now living in Chesterfield, Missouri, Miller donated her time to speak to the class. To thank her, the sophomore class has made a gift to the center in her name.