Allan Firestone, a Holocaust survivor and event speaker, tells the audience of his experience during the World War II on Wednesday, April 15.

Almost 76 years after his hometown of Kolomea, Poland — now western Ukraine — was invaded during World War II, 82-year-old Allan Firestone still vividly remembers the horrifying scenes and inhumane crimes of the Holocaust. “Somehow, by pure chance, pure luck, I survived,” the Silver Spring resident said.

Firestone came to speak to more than 100 students at Maryland Hillel Wednesday night, the start of Yom HaShoah — the Jewish term for Holocaust Remembrance Day — which continues Thursday.

The date serves to honor the 6 million Jews killed by Nazi forces during World War II and to commemorate the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, during which Jewish young adults took up arms against the heavily armed German soldiers.

Students joined in on a special version of the Mourning Kaddish prayer, which included references to concentration camps as well as memorial candles lit for the lives lost.

“People should know what happened because a lot of people nowadays deny the Holocaust even happened,” Firestone said. “So I feel as long as I’m still able to, I want to give testimony of what really happened.”

Firestone’s parents and eldest sister were originally arrested, leaving four children to fend for themselves. They spent the next few years trying to survive in a ghetto, during which time his two other sisters died — one who was arrested for bringing beets for their family to eat, and the other who tried to escape.

“We never found out what happened to them,” Firestone said.

Firestone survived the Holocaust because a friend’s maid hid him and his older sister in an apartment for the latter part of the German occupation, he said. Upon liberation, he was 11 years old.

After the war, he said, he lost touch with the woman whose apartment he spent more than a year hiding in.

“The anti-Semitism was so strong that the maid did not want anyone to know that she helped us or hid us,” Firestone said.

Firestone said the few Jewish survivors in their town congregated together to form a community of about 15 people, until he moved to America with his sister.

They immigrated to the U.S. in 1947, three years after the Soviets liberated his town.

Senior Jared Stein said he was honored to hear Firestone’s story and wisdom.

“It’s rare that we’re able to hear from a survivor of the Holocaust, so I feel lucky I was able to go to an event like this,” the international business major said. “It’s important to understand some of our history; it’s part of our story and parts of our family, so it’s important we hear from survivors and lessons.”

Junior art major Michelle Hahm came to the event to hear Firestone’s story, but also to portray it visually. She said she is working on a book of Holocaust testimonies, for which she will paint portraits and share stories to engage new audiences.

“I hope it will further Holocaust education. I’m appealing to a non-Jewish audience, because I’m not Jewish,” Hahm said.

Ally Turkheimer, the Taglit-Birthright Israel engagement coordinator at Hillel, was especially excited to host Firestone, a longtime family friend whom she refers to as “Grandpa F.”

“It’s important to know the past to understand the future,” Turkheimer said.