People of all faiths filled St. Timothy’s Catholic Church for the Holocaust Day of Remembrance program presented by Temple Shalom on Tuesday afternoon. This year’s theme, Never Again! Has the World Learned?, was brought home by the excellent speakers, wonderful children’s choir and a very moving moment when Holocaust survivors together lighted the menorah.
St. Timothy’s Father Ed welcomed everyone and then the Marine Honor Guard and Jewish War Veterans opened the program followed by the pledge to the flag and singing God Bless America. In opening remarks, co-chair of the Tri-County Holocaust Remembrance 2016 Committee Phyllis Kalter said “Today is not only an act of remembrance, but a remembrance to act.” Susan Sirmai Feinberg, committee co-chair , extended an appreciation to all veterans noting that without the actions of the U.S. military in World War II, her family would not be living here today.
Pastor Drew Willard, of the Villages United Church of Christ, gave the convocation. Next the speakers each gave their own take on the program’s theme.
Dr. Elizabeth White, senior historian at the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., also worked for the Justice Department for 30 years. Part of that time she was the Deputy Director specializing in the deportation of Nazi War Criminals. Growing up in the segregated south spurred her interest in how seemingly good religious people could treat others so unfairly. Receiving her doctorate from the University of Virginia, she is an expert on post Holocaust genocide, mass atrocities, hate language and crimes against humanity.
In her talk, White said that although the nations of the world voted in1948 to not only punish genocide but to prevent it, recent examples she sited such as Rwanda and Bosnia shows we are not there yet. “It takes time; progress has been made,” said White. She said Burma is a country currently most at risk.
Hate speech becomes dangerous speech when, spread by influential people – whether leaders of a country or pop stars, it finds a receptive audience. This can be prevented, stated White, if those that disagree with the hate speech will rise up to “more and better speech.” She closed her remarks saying “This must be done to protect generations to come.”
The second speaker Mitchell Bloomer is the principal instructor of the Holocaust Memorial Research and Education Center in Maitland. A teacher since 1985, he became the resource teacher at the Center in 1995 when the Orange County School system and the Holocaust Center in Maitland joined forces for the state mandated Holocaust education.
He advised the audience that we need to take the theme of the program, Has the World Learned?, a little more personally. We as a people need to learn before we can expect countries or their governments to change. He suggested that the racism the US was dealing with in the 20’sand30’s left little room to talk about what was happening in Germany during that same time.
The law requiring every Florida School to have Holocaust Education includes five points be studied: understanding human behavior, prejudice, diversity, practice being a responsible and respectful person and democratic values.
Adding a little levity to the program was The Villages Charter School Elementary choir led by Hunter Britton. They soon had the crowd clapping their hands and singing along to “Put a Little Love in your Heart.”
Student winners from the essay and art competition were announced. Anastasiya Marynska an eighth grader at the Villages Charter School won the essay competition. Page Becker won the art competition.
One of the stunning moments of the event occurred when Holocaust survivors, Miriam Apfel, Joe Fenster, Heinz Jaffe, Abraham Netkin and Remi Wrona lit the menorah. First up was Miriam Apfel, turning ninety this year, she survived two concentration camps. Her parents and sister were killed at Auschwitz. She was liberated at the end of the war and came to the United States in 1964.
A moment of silent prayer ended the program and people as requested left the program in a respectful silence.
