The 2014 Twin Cities Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) Commemoration took place Sunday night at Temple of Aaron Synagogue in St. Paul. At the conclusion of the program, survivors assembled on the bima, holding yahrzeit candles, and sang “Hatikvah” and “America the Beautiful.” The event is sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas (JCRC), Children of Holocaust Survivors Association in Minnesota (CHAIM), Temple of Aaron Synagogue, Jewish Federation of Greater St. Paul and Minneapolis Jewish Federation. (Photos: Mordecai Specktor)
Louise Dillery recalled her family life and the mood in Paris, as the Nazi threat loomed. Dora Zaidenweber, a native of Radom, Poland, remembered her family members who were murdered in the Shoah.
Fred Amram read a story about how his mother rebuffed the Gestapo officers who came to arrest his father in Hanover, Germany. The Buffalo High School Choir, conducted by Michael Walsh and accompanied by pianist Jill Starr, sang “Ani Ma’amin” and “Lullaby, Song for the Lost Children.” Susannah Devereux, a teacher at Mesabi Range Community and Technical College, Virginia, Minn., received the 2014 Courage to Teach Award from Steve Hunegs, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas (JCRC). Walter Schwarz, fled with his family from Timisorara, Romania. He eventually joined the U.S. Army and was assigned to the Military Intelligence Center in Fort Ritchie, Maryland. Schwarz was one of the Jewish refugees trained in interrogation techniques. The cadre known as the “Ritchie Boys” was sent back to Europe by the army to assist with intelligence operations. Megan Shipley, a student at Buffalo High School, introduced the choir’s rendition of the song she wrote in memory of the children murdered in the Holocaust, “Lullaby, Song for the Lost Children.”
How wonderful to see these stalwart and beautiful people-
of all ages – commemorating the Shoah – each in the ways
they know best.