I just happened to come across this short film and knew immediately that I had to talk about it.

Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) is a difficult subject for me to speak about. As a newcomer to the Yahudim, I oftentimes feel guilty for not having had to endure the constant pain and suffering that the others before me have felt. I wonder, even now, am I qualified to raise my voice? I cannot remain silent. In fact, I will not remain silent. Over six million men, women, and children were helplessly slaughtered while the world stood by and did nothing!

Tragically, even now as the last of the survivors pass away there are people denying what happened. I find it interesting that General Eisenhower spoke about just such a thing when he communicated the following to General Marshall:

The visual evidence and the verbal testimony of starvation, cruelty and bestiality were so overpowering as to leave me a bit sick. In one room, where they [there] were piled up twenty or thirty naked men, killed by starvation, George Patton would not even enter. He said that he would get sick if he did so. I made the visit deliberately, in order to be in a position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to “propaganda.”

As painful as it is to watch and speak about we must not remain silent. We must teach our children, family, friends, everyone. This must never happen again and with YHWH’s protection this never will happen again.

Sh’ma kolenu, hear our voice…

We don’t want the hate towards us to define us as a people or a religion, but what can you do? Life’s experiences take their toll, for better and for worse.

Two men are connected by the numbers on their arms. These numbers were put there by people who considered them sub-human. By people who were working towards their extermination. And yet, these numbers are so significant that though they never met, even while standing in line one behind the other in Auschwitz, when they met now, all these years later, they were immediate soul mates. They connected in a way that almost nothing else could connect two individuals.

One of the most amazing experiences in this world is connecting to people. I do believe it’s something we all crave. So then what are we supposed to learn from the fact that it is through the greatest horrors that such a strong connection that occur? Though it is true that there is also great animosity created from going through terrible experiences…

Here’s the article about these two men who just connected a few months ago for the first time but have the same exact numbers tattooed on their arms, besides the last number being off only by one.

Holocaust Remembrance Day March on Campus Serves as a Reminder

Click the photo to watch a slide show about the Holocaust Remembrance Day March on VCU's campus.

By Leron Barkley
barkleyll[@]vcu.edu

RICHMOND–In the slide show audio clip, Jonathan Bridge talks about his fraternity and how they received the idea to do a march on Holocaust Remembrance Day. Bridge is apart of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity at Virginia Commonwealth University. He said his fraternity attended a conference in North Carolina and learned some fraternities across the nation conduct a march every year on Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Bridge said three other fraternities took part in the march organized by his fraternity on April 21.

“The march by the fraternity was to bring light to an issue that is significant in world history and in Jewish history, said Richmond Hillel Director KB Levin. “There is no history month dedicated to Jewish people so people need to be aware of this day and that is what the march helped do.”

Click the photo to see a historical time line of events dealing with the Jewish community and Israel.

Hillel is The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life. The foundation provides opportunities for students at more than 500 colleges and universities. Levin works with the University of Richmond and the T. C. Williams School of Law and both the Monroe Park and medical VCU campuses.

This was the first year for the march on the VCU Campus, but he is planning for the march next year to continue to make an impact on the VCU community. “This was my first time planning anything, hopefully next year we are able to get into some classrooms and it won’t rain so people will be outside,” said Bridge.

Bridge said the march was held late in the day to bring sort of a somber mood to the march. “The setting helped out what we are trying to express,” said Bridge.

Bridge said as long as the silent march had an impact on one person then he felt as if a difference was made. The group marched in a single line to help draw attention. Their purpose was to remain silent and distribute information about the Holocaust. The group put on black to contrast their white signs, plus Bridge said black is closely represented with mourning.

The group walked in various buildings around VCU Campus including the student center, the library, the cafeteria and education building. Bridge is a freshman at VCU majoring in physical and health education. He joined the fraternity in the fall semester and his current position on the executive board is in a member at large position that serves as a liaison between members in the fraternity and the executive board.

Holocaust Remembrance Day or Yom HaShoah in Hebrew is an internationally recognized date to remember the six million Jewish people that were mass murdered during the Second World War. There were also 13 million people that were murdered at this time from different backgrounds. Each year The Remembrance Day starts at sunset, which is actually the day before the official recognition date. The day corresponds with the 27th day of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar, which is the first month on the Jewish calendar. The first Remembrance Day took place in 1951.

Click the photo to watch a video about the Israel Independence Day Celebration at the Weinstein Jewish Community Center in Richmond, Va.

How It Began – Virginia’s Holocaust Museum

Click the photo to watch a slide show about the Virginia Holocaust Museum.

By Michael J. Jones
jonesmj3[@]vcu.edu

RICHMOND — April was a very important month for the American Jewish Population. On April 21st the 58th Holocaust Remembrance Day and if one was to visit Richmond’s Holocaust Museum it would be a hard even to forget.

Jay M. Ipson is one of the founders of Richmond, Virginia’s Holocaust Museum in 1997 which is located on East Cary Street. Ipson is also Richmond’s youngest survivor of the Holocaust. In an article written by Dionne Waugh of Richmond.com, Ipson told her what it was like to be a child during the Holocaust time period. Ipson said “I was 6 years old. When we moved into the ghetto, the house that we moved into was with my grandparents. So I did not feel the transition from outside to inside the ghetto. A lot of people had a transition. Of course, we lost all our furniture, all our belongings. I lost my favorite coat because it was taken away from me. I had a fur coat that was embroidered real fancy on the outside. The fur was on the inside. I had to give it up. The Germans took that away from me, but materials lost didn’t mean anything to me be because the whole family was as a unit.” However the he and his mother were the only ones to make it through the holocaust. The rest of his family either died in concentration camps or in the gas chambers.

At first Ipson didn’t want to start a Holocaust Museum. He felt that if he started it other Holocaust survivors in Virginia might resent it and think that they should’ve been the ones to start it themselves. Another reason was that there was already a national museum in Washington D.C. When asked about his feelings at the time about starting a museum in Richmond, Ipson said “Richmond doesn’t need it. We got one of the finest in Washington (DC). It’s a national museum and we don’t need it.” However he took a trip to Washington D.C. and they tried to persuade him to build one in Richmond. Ipson said that the National Holocaust Museum said that they would give him the authentic train tracks that thousands of Jews were transported on when they were on their way to the gas chambers. They also said that they would give him the cobblestones from the Warsaw Ghetto which was one of the largest Jewish ghettos in World War II. They were also the same cobblestones that the Battle for Warsaw took place on. Ipson said, “That’s all they had to say. To me those are irreplaceable artifacts that will last generations.”

The museum added a new exhibit in May 2008 that was a life-like replica of The Nuremberg Trials Courtroom. The museum also includes exhibits on the gas chambers, how they cremated those Jews who died in the gas chambers, the concentration camp sleeping quarters, and many other things that visually represent what it was like for Jews and other prisoners during the Holocaust. The museum’s goal is shown on a sign that is visible when you enter and exit the museum. It says, “Think about what you saw” and after viewing their exhibits and completing one of the tours given by one of the youngest survivors of the Holocaust, you will do just that.

Click the photo to view the entire Jewish community Web site produced by Leron Barkley and Michael Jones.

This is a Google Map of Jewish resources in the Richmond, Va., community.

View Larger Map

UN Durban Review Conference, Genève, 20. – 24. April 2009, DG

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Center Field: Remembering the Holocaust after Ahmadinejad denied it

By Gil Troy, Jerusalem Post, 4-21-09

DURBAN DIARY

Gil Troy is Professor of History at McGill University and the author of Why I Am A Zionist: Israel Jewish Identity and the Challenges of Today. He is attending the Durban Review conference as an observer.

Thanks to tremendous prep work by the Jewish community along with human rights organizations and democracies ashamed by Durban I, Durban II has been mild. Despite the undercurrent of hostility - and the occasional security threat — the UN’s move from Durban to Geneva worked. The NGO delegates’ lounge has the festive schmoozy air of any conference. The streets have been relatively quiet.

In fact, pro-Israel forces have dominated the street. On Monday, members of the European Union of Jewish Students taped their mouths shut – and were joined spontaneously by two Darfur refugees - to protest the UN’s silence on Sudan’s crimes and other human rights violations. Last night, a moving Yom HaShoah commemoration in front of the United Nations featured Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, Canadian parliamentarian Irwin Cotler, Father Patrick Desbois and the French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy.

Cotler recalled his parents’ lesson that some events “in Jewish history, in world history, are too terrible to imagine, but not too terrible to have happened.” Cotler’s words and his denunciation of Ahmadinejad’s genocidal designs on Israel linked the traumas of the past that Elie Wiesel described so eloquently with the threats of the present. Mourning the Holocaust in Europe, with six elderly survivors lighting candles in front of the UN, hours  after Ahmadinejad’s Durban Review conference appearance, also linked the world’s failures yesterday with the world’s failures today.

Still, with so many eloquent supporters of Israel assembled, this conference often feels like a Jewish fringe festival – and a gathering of my mentors and heroes - but with a profound message.

Today (Tuesday), after hearing predictably anti-Israel speeches from the Palestinian and Syrian conference delegates, I attended a side NGO session on modern anti-Semitism. The capacity crowd heard Professor Wiesel, visibly anguished by Ahmadinejad’s appearance, denounce the Iranian’s speech as “an insult to our intelligence, an insult to our sensitivity, an insult to our memory.”

Wiesel received a standing ovation by demanding the UN apologize for inviting Ahmadinejad at all. The actor Jon Voight followed with a heartfelt tribute to Israel and the Jews, mystified by the hatred such a “sacred” people endure. Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz then drew “the unbroken line” linking Hitler, his Palestinian ally Haj Amin el Husseini, Yasser Arafat who called Husseini a hero, Ahmadinejad and his terrorist proxies Hizbullah and Hamas.

“Woe unto any of you out there who support Hamas,” Dershowitz thundered. “You are supporting Hitler’s heirs - you are complicit in the great evil of the twentieth century.” Natan Sharansky linked the Soviet Union’s “Orwellian world” with the modern UN’s Orwellianism. Sharansky offered a simple test for “a real conference against racism.” Countries that grant free speech should be given free speech; countries that fight against racism should be allowed to join the conference combating racism. Father Desbois, who uncovers mass graves of Jews in Eastern Europe by speaking to elderly parishioners, demonstrated the importance of challenging people to do the right thing. When he approaches, many ask “Father, why are you coming so late.”

While each of these speakers testified eloquently against the Durban distortions, the fifth speaker, Professor Shelby Steele, tried explaining the continuing appeal of modern anti-Semitism masquerading as anti-Zionism. Steele, a leading black American intellectual, analyzed the wave of revolutions after World War II which eliminated white supremacy. Unfortunately, for many Africans, Arabs, and African-Americans, ending racism, achieving freedom, did not improve their lives as much as they expected. The result was an obsession with racism, and a scapegoating of Israel and Jews, as an act of “bad faith.” It is easier, Steele said, to denounce someone else than to take responsibility for your own misery - or to work hard to improve. Anti-Semitism, is a way of “changing the subject.”

On this Yom HaShoah, in the unlikeliest of places, some of Israel’s most thoughtful defenders helped change the subject in Geneva constructively, away from the Durban obsession with “changing the subject” destructively. Professor Cotler’s warnings that the unimaginable can become the historical haunt me, even as the words of Father Desbois comfort me. We cannot be complacent. And we cannot wait for others to recognize the justice of our cause. We must challenge our friends, our neighbors, seeking out allies. We must make sure that in the future, no one looks back on a preventable historical tragedy and wonders “why are you coming so late” to ask for help.

Bosniak MP Adem Huskic

Adem Huskić
House of Representatives, Member
Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina

On Tuesday 21st April 2009, we are commemorating Yom Hashoah, the Holocaust Remembrance Day. This date, 27. Nisan according to the Hebrew calendar, marks the anniversary of the 1943 Warsaw ghetto uprising.

I take this opportunity to honor the heroes of the 1943 Warsaw uprising, and also to remember that we still have to fight fascist ideology, so that this ideology will be defeated once and for all.

Although the fascist states have been defeated, fascism as an ideology has not. I sincerely hope that the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina will find the courage to adopt legislation against Holocaust and genocide denial. And in that way, it would be a contribution to the fight against fascism.

Anul acesta in 21 aprilie , evreii comemoreaza victimele Holocaustului, sarbatoarea numindu-se YOM HASHOAH.  Data in care are loc acest eveniment este una fixa in calendarul evereiesc , 27 a lunii ebraice Nissan ( 21 aprilie 2009).

In Israel ziua memoriala a Holocaustului incepe prin sunetul unei sirene timp de 2 minute la ora 11, atunci toata lumea se opreste din munca si pastreaza un moment de reculegere.

In ultimul timp am tratat tot felul de subiecte cu tema politica, cred ca trebuie sa dam importanta si popoarelor co-locuitoare, sa le respectam traditiile. Defapt m-am hotarat sa scriu aceasta postare pentru ca observ ca televiziunile dau stirea conform careia presedintele iranian Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a calificat Holocaustul drept “mit” la stirile pe scurt. Acum cateva luni televiziunile romanesti se hraneau cu sangele din Orientul Mijlociu. Bine televiziunile romanesti de “stiri” ( antena 3 si realitatea) au fost total dezinteresate de rezultatul scrutinului din 11 februarie la cateva zile dupa ce se terminasera operatiunile din Fasia Gaza am dat stirea in exclusivitate cu exit poll-ul (vezi breaking news ).

Today we mark Yom Hashoah or Holocaust Remembrance Day in the Jewish Calendar. It’s been only 60+ years since the largest genocide in the history of man was carried out by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, exterminating between 11-17 million people, 6 million of which were Jews. Today we have a new Hitler and his name is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a man whom openly claims that the Holocaust was nothing more than a “myth.” But after repeatedly calling for Israel’s destruction Ahmadinejad gets nothing but a slap on the wrist. We walk out of UN meetings in protest, call for more economic sanctions at the UN Security Council, and ask to sit down and talk diplomatically. All the while Iran is openly enriching enough weapons grade uranium to build a nuclear arsenal.

Israel, we are afraid you have no other choice but to take out Iran on your own. It’s clear that the Obama administration just wants to make nice with everyone around the world for the next four years while dictators are planning for our destruction. And after all why would Iran not want to sit down and talk with Obama? They know nothing will come from it except buy them some more time. How could you take any threat by Mr. Obama seriously? He has spent his first 100 days in office on an apology and appeasement tour throughout Europe and Latin America. Ahmadinejad views him as nothing more than a weak little puppy dog.

So Israel it’s up to you this time. Obama and Bush will both have blood on their hands unless you act accordingly. We think Netanyahu will be forced to bomb Iran back to the stone age by the summer time.

Today Tuesday April,21,2009 is Yom Hashoah-Holocaust Remembrance Day, it is the day that people all around the world remember the 6 Million Jews and 5 million Non-Jews that were murdered and tortured  by the Nazis.

A couple of hours ago in Israel sirens blared for 2 minutes all around the country, people stopped walking,driving, and talking to honor the victims of the Holocaust.

Below is a collection of videos from youtube:

2009:

The following is a poem by Pamela Villars:

“We have mourned our losses -
tiers of stacked cord, bins of piled

clothes, worn and bloody soles.

We have recovered portions of history -

dairies, photos, Torah, art

remain without the souls that carried them.

We have refreshed our spirits.

We have renewed our families.

We have born new hope.

But we cannot replace who did not survive.”

Visit her blog to comment on her poem!

If you have a poem or letter (or just anything better than what I wrote) you would like me to publish, I will credit and link to your site,  just let me know by email: info@photographybyrafi.com

Holocaust Remembrance Day

Today, April 21, 2009, marks Holocaust Remembrance Day, in Hebrew, Yom HaShoah. We remember the six million Jewish lives that perished during World War II due to the anti-Semitic and anti-Judaic ideology and political policies of the Nazi regime. May the Holy One of heaven and earth preserve and protect the Jewish people from such evil happening to them again. This year the focus is on the children who perished during the Shoah. You can read about it here.  If you live in a community where Holocaust Remembrance Day is observed, please attend the service.

Good morning, America. If you come across this today, Tuesday, it is also Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. While the day passes by like any other to most people, it is a time of great reflection for some. For all that has been done for human rights in the 60+ years since the Holocaust, we still have so much work left to do. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech, given earlier this week in Geneva, demonstrates that perfectly. Representatives from more than 30 countries walking out, but even more stayed and applauded the Iranian president.

My peers are among the last generation to hear first-hand accounts of Holocaust survivors, to meet them, talk with them, and to see the scars–physical and emotional–that they still bear. My children will never have that. Much as America’s early wars and events have been relegated to textbook pages and preserved battlegrounds and artifacts, so too will the Holocaust. It is our job to make sure that the deaths of 12 million people, half of them Jews, were not in vain.

With all the chaos that exists in the world today, most notably in the Sudan and Sri Lanka, what are you doing to help? What are any of us doing? What am I doing? “Never Forget” is in your face everywhere you look, but it’s not about us forgetting anymore. Now it’s what happens next. If we can take the lessons learned in Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Treblinka and better the world, then we are not forgetting. But we have eons to go before we’re there.

“I should like someone to remember that there once lived a person named David Berger.”

-David Berger in his last letter, Vilna 1941.

Some reflections for Yom HaShoah.

Today, Tuesday, April 21, is Yom HaShoah–Holocaust Memorial Day. It is a very sobering day as people around the world, particularly those in Israel, pause to remember the murderous atrocities committed by Hitler and his regime against the Jews and other undesirables. Some 6,000,000 Jews were killed during the years of World War II, and millions of others were scarred for life.

I have written a lengthy post elsewhere on how you and I can today remember those who died in the Holocaust.  Please read it {here}, and take time out of your busy day to honor those who perished.

Today is Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The photograph above was taken by my friend Erni, who lives in Vilnius, Lithuania. This photograph, and several others, were specifically taken for me, about five years ago, when he drove to Silale/Shilel, in the dead of January winter, for about 3.5 hours, in order to capture images of the shtetl that my paternal ancestors lived in before they emigrated to England and Scotland. Some of my ancestors who remained behind, were murdered in the outlying woods, and buried with the other Jewish residents in a mass grave. Their names are listed in the Yad Vashem Central database of Shoah Victims.

Silale/Shilel Museum

Read here, for more information on Silale/Shilel

Jewish Community of Lithuania

For information on the history of the Jews in Lithuania, visit here.

Visit Leora’s blog, Here in HP to read about her grandfather’s town in Lithuania.

Sir Martin Gilbert’s book, The Holocaust

Holocaust Memoir Digest

Five Chimneys, by Olga Lengyel

BESA Muslims Who Saved Jews in World War II, by Norman H. Gershman

Check out my website to see the many Holocaust Memoirs I have reviewed…they are too numerous to mention in this post.

From family members who were murdered, to those whose memoirs I have read, and individuals in the films I have seen, etc., I remember them daily. But, Holocaust Remembrance Day/Yom Hashoah is a special day of remembrance that reinforces the plight of all victims of the Holocaust. Let us keep them in our memory.
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© Copyright 2007 – All Rights Reserved – No permission is given or allowed to reuse my photography, book reviews, writings, or my poetry in any form/format without my express written consent/permission.

Tuesday April 21, 2009- 27th of Nisan, 5769