The Greater Miami Jewish Federation will mark the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht on Sunday, November 9, at 6 p.m. Holocaust survivors will join local residents to commemorate one of the most tragic events in modern history. The ceremony will take place at The Holocaust Memorial, 1933-1945 Meridian Avenue in Miami Beach.
The program will include inspirational addresses, poetry readings, and musical performances. The event is free of charge and open to the public. Free parking will be available in the municipal parking lot directly to the south of the Holocaust Memorial. In case of rain, the program will be held at Temple Emanu-El, 1701 Washington Avenue in Miami Beach.
The keynote address will be delivered by Erica Leib of Aventura, Florida, who was a teenager on Kristallnacht when the Gestapo and brown-shirted Nazi sympathizers tore apart her family’s apartment in Vienna. She will provide eyewitness testimony about the kindness of a building janitor who hid her family in the immediate aftermath of Kristallnacht. She also will describe her family’s escape from Vienna and their flight through various countries before settling on the Isle of Wight off the coast of Great Britain.
Other speakers will include Andrew C. Hall, Esq., chair of the Holocaust Memorial, Chaim Shacham, consul general of Israel to Florida and Puerto Rico, Barbara Black Goldfarb, a past chair of the board of The Greater Miami Jewish Federation, and Dr. Miriam Klein Kassenoff, renowned Holocaust studies educator. The program will feature memorial songs by cantors from various congregations throughout South Florida and participation by teenagers attending the 2015 March of the Living.
The Kristallnacht program is sponsored by the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach, a committee of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. It is supported by the City of Miami Beach Cultural Affairs Program, Cultural Arts Council and the Florida Department of Education.
For more information, visit www.HolocaustMemorialMiamiBeach.org or call 305-538-1663.