Jill Peláez Baumgaertner is a poet and emerita professor of English at Wheaton College. She wrote her first poem at age 16 after visiting Dachau, and has immersed herself ever since in the literature of the Holocaust. As a scholar, Baumgaertner’s interest in religion and literature keeps pushing her back to the Holocaust as “the occasion when all of the central questions about God’s justice and love, and humanity’s capacity for evil, rise to the surface.” Baumgaertner is the author of several books of and about poetry, including What Cannot Be Fixed (2014), Finding Cuba (2001) and Flannery O’Connor: A Proper Scaring (1998, 2013). The Holocaust Service of Remembrance and Lecture will take place on Sunday, April 8, beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the Frick Center, Founders Lounge (190 Prospect Ave., Elmhurst, Elmhurst.edu/campusmap). Admission is free and all are welcome.

Elmhurst College is a leading four-year college that seamlessly blends liberal learning and professional preparation to help students reach their full potential. Elmhurst offers more than 60 undergraduate majors, 15 graduate programs, evening and online programs for adults, and the Elmhurst Learning and Success Academy for young adults with differing abilities. Elmhurst College is one of the Top 12 Colleges in the Midwest, according to U.S. News & World Report; and U.S. News, Money and Forbes magazines consistently rank Elmhurst as one of the Midwest’s best values in higher education.