Community members, clergy, and other local leaders came together with Holocaust survivors and members of the second and third generations on Sunday, April 12, in the Paul and Alice Baker Ballroom at the Tucson Jewish Community Center to honor the survivors, the flickers of light that came out of the darkness of the Shoah, and to remember the six million Jews who were murdered for nothing more than being Jewish.
This year’s Yom HaShoah commemoration focused on the legacy of the survivors with us today, what they are most proud of, the values and stories they pass on to us and to the generations to come. These important legacies celebrating their resilience were featured during the ceremony in a moving video, alongside candle lighting, special readings, prayers, and the strong hope that hatred and othering will not win out, and that the promise of “Never Again” be not just a phrase but a legacy we strive to protect every day.
“These survivors have transformed the abstractness of the Holocaust into a living witness, teaching us that even in the face of absolute evil, the human spirit retains the capacity to rebuild, to love, and to find joy,” says Lori Shepherd, executive director of the Tucson Jewish Museum & Holocaust Center.
“As the generation of firsthand witnesses grows ever smaller,” we must continue to bear witness, stand against hate, and celebrate resilience, Shepherd adds.
Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel, is a national Memorial Day for the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust and for the Jewish resistance during that period. This internationally recognized date, the observance of which became Israeli law in 1959, corresponds to the 27th day of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar and marks the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
All of the Holocaust survivors in attendance lit candles.
Second-generation survivors were honored to light candles in memory and in recognition of those lost and those responsible for preserving life, often at the potential cost of their own, and those who treated and viewed the survivors, many for the first time, as human beings.
Those candles were as follows:
Sara Golan Mussman lit the candle in memory of the six million Jews, 1.5 million of whom were children, murdered at the hands of the Nazis.
Su Libby lit the candle on behalf of the liberators who played a crucial role in the first step of the Holocaust survivors’ return to life.
Eva Friedner lit the candle on behalf of the Righteous Among the Nations, a designation awarded by Yad Vashem, The World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Israel, to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.
Keith Dveirin lit the candle for Irena Sendler, who smuggled more than 2,500 children to safety, despite knowing what the consequences could be if the Nazis found out.
Estelle Stern Eilers lit the candle for Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish architect and businessman, who, while serving as Sweden’s special envoy in Budapest, issued protective passports and sheltered Jews in buildings that he declared as Swedish territory.
Shepherd lit the remaining five yahrzeit candles in memory of the five Holocaust survivors who passed between last Yom HaShoah and this one.
The annual Southern Arizona Yom HaShoah commemoration is a partnership between the Tucson Jewish Museum & Holocaust Center, the Tucson Jewish Community Center, and Jewish Family & Children’s Services, with funding support from Jewish Philanthropies of Southern Arizona.
Watch the video, “Yom HaShoah: The Legacy We Leave Behind”
