As part of a campaign in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day, members of the Tucson Holocaust Survivors group at Jewish Family & Children’s Services, teens from Tucson Hebrew High and staff at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona joined over 200,000 people worldwide posting photos holding “We Remember” signs in dozens of languages, using the hashtag #WeRemember on social media. The World Jewish Congress launched the campaign in January. The United Nations General Assembly designated Jan. 27 as Holocaust Rememberance Day in 2005, marking the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
Each week at Tucson Hebrew High classes begin with a discussion around a “Did You Know” piece focusing on one of six curricular pillars: Jewish practice, Jewish texts, Jewish ethics, Jewish history, language and homeland, says Sharon Glassberg, principal of Tucson Hebrew High. On Tuesday, Jan. 24, the discussion focused on the “We Remember” campaign.
“Both the Holocaust survivors and the teens saw the importance of their voices in this campaign,” says Glassberg, who notes that JTA reports participation from schoolchildren in a Holocaust history class in Rwanda; Holocaust survivors in Lithuania; an imam in France; and the president of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany as well as Israeli politicians and lawmakers.
“I look at the smiles on the faces realizing that not only do we remember each and every day, we truly celebrate that we are here,” says Glassberg.
Continuing the theme of remembrance, this year, eight Tucson teens along with Holocaust survivor Pawel Lichter and his wife, Sara, will participate in the March of the Living in Poland and Israel.
