Irene Weiss was 13 years old when she and her sister, Serena, were taken to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland where they worked in a storage warehouse not far from two crematoriums.

Nearly 80 years later, Weiss, now age 93, will recount the horrors she experienced during the Holocaust at 2 p.m. Oct. 29, at the Chabad Lubavitch Center for Jewish Life, 770 Howes Lane, Columbia. Security for those attending will be provided at the center.

Weiss will tell her story amid the war in Israel, which began Oct. 7 when the terrorist group, Hamas, conducted a coordinated surprise attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip.

Chabad Rabbi Yanky Baron said that Weiss’ daughter, Lesley Weiss, has been consoling her mother since the attack on Israel. The scale of the attack has caused her to relive her time during the Holocaust.

“To her, Israel was always a safe place where Jews could go,” he said.

Baron said her story is intended to not only enhance Holocaust awareness but highlight the fight against antisemitism.

“With a recent uptick of antisemitic incidents occurring nationwide, and especially in the wake of the war in Israel, the event seeks to educate and foster understanding by drawing lessons from the atrocities of the past,” a news release about the event states. “Mrs. Weiss will deliver a powerful testimony about her childhood in Europe, the horrors of her experience in Auschwitz at the tender age of 13, and her subsequent journey to rebuilding her life as a proud Jew in America.”Weiss will also show photos from her time as a prisoner in Auschwitz.

Lesley Weiss, who was appointed by President Joe Biden to the United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, will moderate the event.

Beginning in May 1944, nearly 425,000 Jews were deported by Nazi soldiers from Hungary to Auschwitz, including Irene Weiss and her family, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website. After arriving at the camp, Irene’s mother, three younger siblings, and older brother were killed.

Irene Weiss and her sister were selected to work forced labor, while their father removed corpses from the gas chambers, and then cremated them. Their father was eventually shot by Nazi guards.

In 1945, Irene Weiss was taken by foot to the Ravensbruck concentration camp in Germany, the Holocaust website states. Weeks later, she was transported to a subcamp of Ravensbruck, east of Hamburg.

Soviet troops eventually liberated the camp, as the Nazis fled. Irene Weiss, her sister, and their aunt made their way to Prague, and a new life.

Baron said as Holocaust survivors continue to get older, it is becoming more difficult to hear their firsthand accounts. It is crucial to take advantage of every opportunity for them to tell their story, he said.

“We are living in a time of heightened fear and antisemitic violence, so it’s crucial to educate people about the atrocities of the past to ensure they are not repeated,” he said.

Baron said Weiss is courageous to tell her story.

“This was the past, but what happened in Israel was directed at Jewish civilians,” he said. “[Hamas] simply came to kill, and it was a travesty. It was pure evil.”

For more information about the event, go to Chabadellicottcity.com/tools/events/register_cdo/eventid/15485.