Yom Hashoah 2007

On 15 April 2007 in London England, the Yad Vashem UK Foundation, together with the Board of Deputies of British Jews, will be holding the annual commemoration service and ceremony on that day combined it with a unique gesture of recognition to a British Army officer, the late Brigadier HL Glyn Hughes, who was the medical officer in charge of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen.

The Yad Vashem UK Foundation is proud to have initiated a Meritorious Award for Bravery for a British subject and to present it posthumously to the only remaining relative of the late Brigadier resident in the UK, his son-in-law Mr. David Smart.

Further details about this event can be obtained from: office {at} yadvashem.org(.)uk ">office {at} yadvashem.org(.)uk

UN marks Holocaust Day as constant reminder to prevent future genocides

29 January 2007 – The United Nations today marked the annual International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust with an urgent appeal that the remembrance of the millions of Jews and others murdered by the Nazis serve to prevent new massacres, a rebuff for those who deny that the tragedy ever occurred, and moving testimony from survivors.

“The Holocaust was a unique and undeniable tragedy,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a video message played to a special memorial ceremony in the General Assembly Hall on the Holocaust in which 6 million Jews, 500,000 Roma and Sinti and other minorities, disabled and homosexuals were killed.

“Decades later, the systematic murder of millions of Jews and others retains its power to shock. The ability of the Nazis to command a following, despite their utter depravity, still strikes fear. And above all, the pain remains: for aging survivors, and for all of us as a human family that witnessed a descent into barbarism.

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Minnesota officials joined Jewish leaders Friday in condemning the planned burning of Jewish books by a neo-Nazi group.
The burning, scheduled to coincide with Saturday’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day, will “torch degenerate books such as the Talmud, and other anti-American and/or anti-White books,” according to the Web site of the National Socialist Movement, which is organizing the event.

State Attorney General Lori Swanson and former U.S. Senator Rudy Boschwitz joined Jewish groups, local Christian leaders and Holocaust survivors in condemning the event. “We stand today as a united front to celebrate the strength of our democracy in the face of a group whose actions are a tremendous insult to Holocaust survivors, their liberators and families, and all Americans,” said Steve Hunegs, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas. “We will remain vigilant in taking a stand against those who admire the atrocities of Nazi Germany.”

President Bush commemorated the liberation of Auschwitz with a call to reject Holocaust denial, particularly from Iran.
“Remembering the victims, heroes, and lessons of the Holocaust is particularly important today as Holocaust denial continues, urged on by the Iranian regime, which perversely seeks to call into question the historical fact of the Nazis’ campaign of mass murder,” Bush said in a statement Friday, when commemorations of the Jan. 27, 1945 liberation of Auschwitz began. “We must continue to condemn the resurgence of anti-Semitism, that same virulent intolerance that led to the Holocaust, and we must combat bigotry and hatred in all their forms, in America and abroad.”

Diplomats from 33 nations joined Holocaust survivors in lighting memorial candles at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. Museum director Sara Bloomfield said commemoration is critical as the last survivors and witnesses pass on. “The victims of the Holocaust were abandoned by the world,” she said at the ceremony. “We cannot abandon them again.”

CALL FOR TICKETS

INTERNATIONAL RAOUL WALLENBERG FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES SUBSIDY FOR HOLOCAUST RESCUERS/SURVIVORS, RESCUER/SURVIVOR FAMILIES, AND STUDENTS TO ATTEND ‘PARTNERS OF HOPE’ EVENT
IN CARNEGIE HALL ON FEBRUARY 5, 2007

For More Information

Abigail Teembaum
International Raoul Wallenberg Fndn
212-737-3275

Deborah Briggs
Vision-Velocity-Logistics
443-804-6752

The International Raol Wallenberg Foundation has received a gift from an anonymous donor to provide free and reduced tickets to ‘PARTNERS OF HOPE: Honoring Bravery and Humanitarianism: Stories of Rescue During The Holocaust, at Carnegie Hall’s Isaac Stern Auditorium on February 5th at 8 p.m. Survivors and Rescuers will receive free tickets by calling the IRWF at 212-737-3275. Students with an ID can purchase tickets at the reduced cost of $10 at Carnegie Hall www.carnegiehall.org or by calling 212-247-7800.

‘PARTNERS OF HOPE: Honoring Bravery and Humanitarianism: Stories of Rescue During The Holocaust - will include acclaimed Israeli singer/musician David Broza, Yiddish actress/singer Eleanor Reissa, and Bulgarian soprano Anna Veleva. The event also features the premier of a major orchestral work by composer Robert Cohen, based on the poetry of World War II Veteran and Jewish-American Poet, Hyam Plutzik. Maestro David Wroe will conduct the Westfield Symphony Orchestra and Pro Arts Chorale.

The program will also feature Shoa Songs – Ani Ma’Amin and Es Brent — remembered by Concentration Camp survivors as anthems sung during the march to death in the gas chamber. Notable figures will read from historical diaries and letters, and provide personal commentary on the inspirational legacies left to us by rescuers and survivors. Civic presenters include United Nations Under-Secretary-General Shashi Tharoor and United Nations Israeli Ambassador, Dan Gillerman. Rabbi Robert Levine, Senior Rabbi of Congregation Rodeph Shalom Manhattan and President of the NY Board of Rabbis will represent the regional religious community with readings and reminiscences.

Noted Abigail Tanembaum of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation,
‘We are thrilled to extend an invitation to NYC-area Holocaust survivors and rescuers – as well as their families – to be our guests at ‘PARTNERS OF HOPE’ on February 5, 2007 – at Carnegie Hall. Their experiences and recollections inspire us to reach toward higher goals and believe in the power of individuals to make a difference.”

Partners of Hope is presented by the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, and co-sponsored by regional humanitarian foundations and organizations. The subsidy program is privately funded by an anonymous donor. Survivors and Rescuers can receive free tickets by calling the IRWF at 212-737-3275. General audience tickets can be purchased at Carnegie Hall www.carnegiehall.org

Conversation with…Serena Woolrich
Finding closure key issue for Holocaust survivors and their families

By Judie Jacobson
Published: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 7:08 PM EST

Serena Woolrich is founder and director of Allgenerations, Inc., a nonprofit organization that serves as a clearinghouse for Holocaust survivors and their descendants, providing information, support and guidance on a broad range of Holocaust-related topics, including historical studies and documentation, reparations, looted assets, etc. In addition to helping many survivors locate family members, the six-year-old organization serves as a resource for educators, historians, authors and filmmakers throughout the world involved with various aspects of the Holocaust.

The daughter of Holocaust survivors from Hungary, Woolrich is a native New Yorker who currently lives in Washington, D.C. During the course of her career working for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), she has lived in several different cities, including Hartford, Boston and Atlanta.

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Would you have any contact information for a Rita Lowenstein, a 2g who lived in the Bronx; her e-mail is no longer working and her phone is disconnected.

There’s a survivor who wishes to speak with her about one of her SEARCHES.

Thank you very much.

allgenerations {at} aol(.)com

Dear Friends,
We invite you to participate in the First Annual Israel Arbeiter Essay Contest, coordinated by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston to commemorate the Holocaust. This annual contest will ask students to consider a Holocaust-related theme and respond thoughtfully in an essay form. The contest will honor President of the American Association of Holocaust Survivors of Greater Boston Israel Arbeiter, a Holocaust survivor and community advocate who has worked tirelessly to commemorate and educate others about the Holocaust.

The purpose of this essay contest is:

To continue a living legacy of Holocaust memory
To involve the next generations in Holocaust memory
To honor Holocaust Survivors, the memory of Holocaust victims, and the memory of the Holocaust
To promote awareness of Holocaust Commemoration activities in the Greater Boston Area.
This year’s contest will ask students to consider how we choose to remember the past and commemorate the Holocaust. Students are asked to respond to the topic below:

All over the world, different communities find ways to remember the Holocaust by building memorials. Today, the New England Holocaust Memorial near Faneuil Hall teaches thousands of people about the Holocaust and helps the Boston community remember. Imagine that you are in charge of designing a Holocaust Memorial in Boston. Describe your design. Where would you put this Memorial? What do you hope people will learn from the memorial you design?

We hope to receive at least 100 essays from students in grades 6-12 in our first annual contest, which will run from January through April 2007. Winning essay entrants will be selected in two categories- grades 6-8 and 9-12. The top two essay entries in each category will be presented with awards and substantial prizes.

Please pass this information on to the appropriate people at your organization and encourage them to have their students participate in this contest.
——————————————————————————–
Essay Contest Guidelines
Essays should be between 500-750 words, double spaced and should include the following information:

Name
Contact email and phone number
Address
Name of school and instructor
Entries may be submitted in hard copy by mail or online.

The deadline for submissions is April 30, 2007.

You may email submissions to Deborah Donig. Please use “Israel Arbeiter Essay Contest” as the subject line of the email.

Please mail paper submissions to:

Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston
Attn: Deborah Donig
126 High Street
Boston, MA 02114

Winning entries will be published online and may be used in other publications. As we are unable to return essays, please do not send us original copies.

For more information, please email me at ddonig {at} jcrcboston(.)org . You may also reach me by phone by calling (617) 457-8652.

Best,

Deborah Donig
Essay Contest Coordinator
The Israel Arbeiter Essay Contest

ON THE HOLOCAUST CONFERENCE SPONSORED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF IRAN
By Gholam Reza Afkhami and over one hundred others
To the Editors:

We the undersigned Iranians,

Notwithstanding our diverse views on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict;

Considering that the Nazis’ coldly planned “Final Solution” and their ensuing campaign of genocide against Jews and other minorities during World War II constitute undeniable historical facts;

Deploring that the denial of these unspeakable crimes has become a propaganda tool that the Islamic Republic of Iran is using to further its own agendas;

Noting that the new brand of anti-Semitism prevalent in the Middle East today is rooted in European ideological doctrines of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and has no precedent in Iran’s history;

Emphasizing that this is not the first time that the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has resorted to the denial and distortion of historical facts;

Recalling that this government has refused to acknowledge, among other things, its mass execution of its own citizens in 1988, when thousands of political prisoners, previously sentenced to prison terms, were secretly executed because of their beliefs;

Strongly condemn the Holocaust Conference sponsored by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Tehran on December 11–12, 2006, and its attempt to falsify history;

Pay homage to the memory of the millions of Jewish and non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust, and express our empathy for the survivors of this immense tragedy as well as all other victims of crimes against humanity across the world.

Abadi, Delnaz (Filmmaker, USA)
Abghari, Shahla (Professor, Life University, USA)
Abghari, Siavash (Professor/Chair, Department of Business Administration, Morehouse College, USA)
Afary, Janet (Faculty Scholar/Associate Professor of History, Purdue University, USA)
Afkhami, Gholam Reza (Senior Scholar, Foundation for Iranian Studies, USA)
Afkhami, Mahnaz (Executive Director, Foundation for Iranian Studies/Women’s Rights Advocate, USA)
Afshar, Mahasti (Arts/Culture Executive, USA)
Afshari, Ali (Human Rights Advocate/Political Activist, USA)
Ahmadi, Ramin (Associate Professor, Yale School of Medicine/Founder, Griffin Center for Health and Human Rights, USA)
Akashe-Bohme, Farideh (Social Scientist/Writer, Germany)
Akbari, Hamid (Human Rights Advocate/Chair/Associate Professor, Department of Management and Marketing, Northeastern Illinois University, USA)
Akhavan, Payam (Jurist/Senior Fellow, Faculty of Law of McGill University, Canada)
Amin, Shadi (Journalist/Women’s Rights Activist, Germany)
Amini, Bahman (Publisher, France)
Amini, Mohammad (Writer/Political Activist, USA)
Amjadi, Kurosh (Human Rights Advocate)
Apick, Mary (Actress/Playwright/Producer/Human Rights Advocate, USA)
Ashouri, Daryoush (Writer/Translator, France)
Atri, Akbar (Student Rights and Political Activist, USA)
Bagher Zadeh, Hossein (Human Rights Advocate/Former Professor, Tehran University, Great Britain)
Bakhtiari, Abbas (Musician/Director, Pouya Iranian Cultural Center, France)
Baradaran, Monireh (Human Rights Advocate/Writer, Germany)
Behnoud, Massoud (Writer/Journalist, Great Britain)
Behroozi, Jaleh (Human Rights Advocate/Iranian Mothers’ Committee for Freedom, USA)
Beyzaie, Niloofar (Theater Director/Playwright, Germany)
Boroumand, Ali-Mohammad (Lawyer, France)
Boroumand, Ladan (Historian/Research Director, Boroumand Foundation, USA)
Boroumand, Roya (Historian/Human Rights Advocate, USA)
Chafiq, Chahla (Sociologist/Writer/ Women’s Rights Advocate, France)
Dadsetan, Javad (Filmmaker)
Daneshvar, Abbas (Chemist, Netherlands)
Daneshvar, Hassan (Mathematician, Netherlands)
Daneshvar, Reza (Writer, France)
Davari, Arta (Painter, Germany)
Djalili, Mohammad Reza (Professor, L’Institut Universitaire de Hautes Études Internationales, Switzerland)
Ebrahimi, Farah (USA)
Eskandani, Ahmad (Entrepreneur, France)
Fani Yazdi, Reza (Political Activist, USA)
Farahmand, Fariborz (Engineer, USA)
Farssai, Fahimeh (Writer, Germany)
Ghahari, Keivandokht (Historian/Journalist, Germany)
Ghassemi, Farhang (Professor in Strategic Management, France)
Hejazi, Ghodsi (Professor/Researcher, Frankfurt University, Germany)
Hekmat, Hormoz (Human Rights Advocate/Editor, Iran Nameh, USA)
Hojat, Ali (Entrepreneur/Human Rights Advocate, Great Britain)
Homayoun, Dariush (Writer, Switzerland)
Idjadi, Didier (Professor/Associate Mayor, France)
Jahangiri, Golroch (Women’s Rights Advocate, Germany)
Jahanshahi, Marjan (Professor, Institute of Neurology, University College London, Great Britain)
Karimi Hakkak (Director, Center for Persian Studies, University of Maryland, USA)
Kazemi, Monireh (Women’s Rights Advocate, Germany)
Khajeh Aldin, Minoo (Painter, Germany)
Khaksar, Nasim (Writer, Germany)
Khazenie, Nahid (Remote Sensing Scientist/Program Director, NASA, USA)
Khodaparast Santner, Zari (Landscape Architect, USA)
Khonsari, Mehrdad (Political Activist, Great Britain)
Khorsandi, Hadi (Poet/Writer, Great Britain)
Khounani, Azar (Educator/Human Rights Advocate, USA)
Mafan, Massoud (Publisher, Germany)
Malakooty, Sirus (Composer/Chairman, Artists Without Frontiers, Germany)
Manafzadeh, Alireza (Writer, France)
Mazahery, Ahmad (Engineer/Political Activist, USA)
Mazahery, Lily (Lawyer, President of the Legal Rights Institute/Human Rights Advocate, USA)
Memarsadeghi, Mariam (Freedom House, USA)
Mesdaghi, Iraj (Human Rights Advocate/Writer, Sweden)
Milani, Abbas (Director, Iranian Studies Program, Stanford University, USA)
Mohyeddin, Samira (Graduate Student, University of Toronto, Canada)
Moini, Mohammadreza (Journalist/ Human Rights Advocate, RSF, France)
Molavi, Afshin (Journalist, USA)
Monzavi, Faeze (Women’s Rights Advocate, Germany)
Moradi, Golmorad (Political Scientist/Translator, Germany)
Moradi, Homa (Women’s Rights Advocate, Germany)
Moshaver, Ziba (London Middle East Institute, SOAS, Research Fellow, Great Britain)
Moshkin-Ghalam, Shahrokh (Ballet Dancer/Actor, France)
Mourim, Khosro (Sociologist, France)
Mozaffari, Mehdi (Professor of Political Science, Denmark)
Naficy, Majid (Poet/Writer, USA)
Nafisi, Azar (Writer/Johns Hopkins University, USA)
Nassehi, Reza (Human Rights Advocate/Translator, France)
Pakzad, Jahan (Teacher/Researcher, France)
Parham, Bagher (Writer/Translator, France)
Parsipour, Shahrnush (Writer, USA)
Parvin, Mohammad (Human Rights Advocate/Founding Director of Mehr/Adjunct Professor, California State University, USA)
Pirnazar, Jaleh (Professor, Iranian Studies, University of California, Berkeley, USA)
Pourabdollah, Farideh (Human Rights Advocate, USA)
Pourabdollah, Saeid (Human Rights Advocate, USA)
Rashid, Shahrouz (Poet/Writer, Germany)
Royaie, Yadollah (Poet, France)
Rusta, Mihan (Human Rights Advocate/Refugee Adviser, Germany)
Sadr, Hamid (Writer, Austria)
Sarchar, Houman (Independent Scholar, USA)
Sarshar, Homa (Journalist, USA)
Satrapi, Marjane (Writer, France)
Sayyad, Parviz (Actor/Playwright, USA)
Shahriari, Sheila (World Bank, USA)
Soltani, Parvaneh (Actor/Theater Director, Great Britain)
Tabari, Shahran (Journalist, Great Britain)
Taghvaie, Ahmad (Founding Member, Iranian Futurist Association, USA)
Toloui, Roya (Human Rights Advocate, USA)
Vaziri, Hellen (Germany)
Wahdat-Hagh, Wahied (Social Scientist, USA)
Zarkesh Yazdi, Fathieh (Human Rights and Refugee Rights Advocate, Great Britain)
Ziazie, Arsalan (Writer, Germany)

Holocaust survivors hope their stories outlive them
Chris Schneider © News

Fred and Miriam Hoffman are among Holocaust survivors who worry that their deaths will trigger increasing disregard of the atrocities or even disbelief in them. Most people who made it out of the Holocaust are now dead. Of the estimated 500 survivors who settled in the area, about 150 are still alive.

By Myung Oak Kim, Rocky Mountain News
January 23, 2007
Forty years ago, Fred and Miriam Hoffman belonged to a close-knit group of people who had seen humanity at its worst.

At least once a month, the couple gathered for dinners, parties and religious celebrations with Holocaust survivors who had started a new life in Denver.

Today, the social gatherings are rare.

“Forty years ago, we celebrated births and bar mitzvahs,” said Miriam Hoffman, 70, of southeast Denver. “Unfortunately, now we go to funerals.”

Most people who made it out of the Holocaust are now dead.

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