ID Transcript
mare0805_01 "' 1 I ' I w 1 JUN 21 1932 JOSEPH MEYERHOFE LIBRARY MARTYRDOM AND RESISTANCE Newsletter for the American Federation of Jewish Fighters, Camp Inmates, and Nazi Victims, Inc. tm*tp \tfi awanp \%h wtonw /way? yvn"" p* y>S8wyfi ns»8p*nytt8 Vol. 8 -i No. 4-5 May-June 1982 — lyyar-Sivan 5742 Yom Hashoa V'Hagvurah: Record Observances; Dual Ceremonies in Congress, White House CEREMONIES AT WHITE HOUSE The President and the Congress of the United States led Holocaust memorial services on Yom Hashoa. The tragedy of the Holocaust should never be forgotten, the President said, at a White House ceremony, because ""the things that bring us together here are still possible in the world today."" The White House ceremony followed a Holocaust remembrance program in the Capitol Rotunda, both part of week-long Days of Remembrance ceremonies held throughout the country under sponsorship of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council ( USHMC). Six candles in memory of the Six Million Jewish victims were lit at the White House by survivors, members of USHMC, as well as their children. The survivors were Benjamin Meed, Kalman Sultanik, Sigmund Strochlitz, chairman, and Eli Zborowski. Jeanette Lerman, Menachem Rosensaft, and Elisha Wiesel were the survivors' children. The El Moleh Rachamim prayer was chanted by Cantor Isaac Goodfriend, of Atlanta, USHMC. Rabbi Joseph Asher of San Francisco, USHMC, recited Kaddish. TRAGEDY OF GREAT PROPORTIONS The ""magnitude of what has brought us together"" at the Capitol and at the White House, the President said, is a ""tragedy of such proportion"" that even today may cannot grasp its full extent. The President said that there were so many victims that it becomes necessary to look at the ""humanity behind the numbers."" If these victims had survived, he asked, there is no telling what they would have contributed to humanity. USHMC Chairman Elie Wiesel recalled that (Continued on Page 7) YOM HASHOA AT THE WHITE HOUSE. At ceremonies in the East Room, a candle is lit by Eli Zborowski, member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council (USHMC), and honorary president, American Federation of Jewish Fighters, Camp Inmates, and Nazi Victims. At right is Sigmund Strochlitz, chairman of the Days of Remembrance, USHMC. Seated (1. tor.) are Elie Wiesel, chairman, USHMC; President Reagan; and Cantor Isaac Goodfriend (far right), member, USHMC. White House Photo FEDERATION OF SURVIVORS ACTIVE Yom Hashoa, 1982: this marks the 30th year since the Israeli Knesset established 27 Nissan as an annual day of observance for the remembrance of all the Jewish martyrs of the European catastrophe and for tribute to the heroes of the Holocaust. The continued growth in America of observances through the decades was strikingly demonstrated this year on Yom Hashoa, April 20. This year, attention was centered in the nation's capital, where seperate ceremonies were held in the East Room, where President Reagan gave a stirring talk, and in the Capitol Rotunda. Both ceremonies were sponsored by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. DIVERSITY OF PROGRAMS The sophistication and the intensive planning of Yom Hashoa observances were seen in the great diversity of the programs: dedication of memorials to the Six Millions; awards to Righteous Gentiles and liberators of the death camps; multimedia exhibits; plays memorializing the more than 1 million martyred Jewish children. Yom Hashoa 1982 also marked new levels of involvement and leadership in Yom Hashoa observances by the American Federation of Jewish Fighters, Camp Inmates, and Nazi Victims. Close to 30,000 posters, booklets, and program packets were distributed. In the three months before and during the Yom Hashoa period, over 300 ""Holocaust and Resistance"" exhibits were sent to organizations, institutions, and groups throughout the country. The Federation was instrumental in the issuance of the annual proclamation, which this year had 85 cosigners, national Jewish organizations that called for the observance of Holocaust and Resistance Day — the 27th day of the Hebrew month of Nissan, corresponding this year to April 20. In addition to those participating at the ceremonies of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, survivors throughout the country gave more meaning and understanding to Yom Hashoa observances through their participation and leadership at these events. In proclaiming Holocaust Commemoration Day, New York Governor Hugh L. Carey declared that the observance ""serves as a time to remember the communities,' synagogues and the public, cultural, educational, religious, and benevolent institutions that were destroyed in an attempt to erase the name, faith, and culture of the Jewish people... to the underground fighters, to the heroic stand of the besieged fighters of the ghettos who rose and kindled the flame of revolt in honor of their people and those who sacrificed to maintain the culture and tradition of the Jewish people."" California Governor Edmund G. Brown proclaimed April 18-25 as Days of Remembrance. The only way to prevent another Holocaust, he said, ""is to focus attention on the mistakes of the past and to become educated about, vigilant against and resistant to tyranny of any kind."" N.J. GOVERNOR PARTICIPATES New Jersey Governor Thomas H. Kean spoke at the dedication of a specially commissioned Holocaust memorial sculpture by the world-famous Jewish sculptor Nathan Rapoport. The cere^- mony, on April 25 at Temple Sholom, Plainfield, was also marked by the Governor's receiving the first Holocaust curriculum guide prepared by the New Jersey State Department of Education with the assistance of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith. The ceremony was the occasion, too, for the world premiere of a choral and orchestral composition ""To Remember It All,"" commissioned for Yom Hashoa and conducted by Israeli composer and musicologist Edmund Halpern. ""There is always a Holocaust lurking there (Continued on Page 7) Yad Vashem Project Holocaust Remembrance: Eternalizing 4,500 Destroyed Jewish Communities The Six Million are the focus of remembrance activities and programs, memorials, and the like. Of late, attention is still being directed to the Six Million, but not just as a number reflecting the horror of the tragedy. The Six Million are individuals, are people who had roots in Jewish communities throughout Europe. This is the theme of an ambitious and momentous project of Yad Vashem that is establishing a memorial to the 4,500 Jewish communities destroyed during the Holocaust. The Valley of the Destroyed Communities is being planned at Yad Vashem on the Mount of Remembrance in Jerusalem. To be completed within the next five years, the memorial will be not only for the renowned Jewish centers, but for all places that had Jewish institutions. The names of the destroyed communities will be engraved in stone on rock-forms arranged according to their location in Europe. The project has created much excitement in the U.S., where Societies of Fellows are being inaugurated in major cities. Leaders in the Jewish community have stepped forward to further this most meaningful program, according to Dr. Yitzhak Arad, chairman of the Yad Vashem directorate. Dr. Arad himself presented the Yad Vashem medal for distinguished leadership in the cause of remembrance to Mr. and Mrs. Isak Levenstein and Mr. and Mrs. Sam Halpern. Mr. Halpern and Mr. Levenstein are chairman and honorary chairman, respectively, of the New Jersey chapter of Yad Vashem Fellows. A ceremony is also being arranged at the Israeli Consulate for Mr. and Mrs. Israel Krakowski and Mr. and Mrs. Sam Skura. ""Together with the Six Million,"" Dr. Arad said, ""the 4,500 communities we seek to memorialize were obliterated by the Nazis, in their savage war against Jews and against everything Jewish. It, therefore, becomes a sacred duty and necessity to eternalize the names of these communities, thereby remembering all they represent."" "
