Last Sunday the Holocaust Memorial Committee, located in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn held it’s 23rd annual Holocaust memorial gathering.
The moving and emotional event was attended by over 1,000 people from all over the metropolitan area. They were greeted by politicians who have been strong supporters of the Holocaust Committee over the many years that the gatherings have been taking place.
Among those that were in attendance were Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Councilman Michael Nelson and this year’s keynote speaker Congressman Jerry Nadler. This year, in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the reunification of the holy city of Jerusalem in 1967, a special exhibit was displayed that included art posters, photographs and newspaper accounts of the Six Day War. Mr. Ira Bielus, founder of the Holocaust Memorial Committee, read aloud the famous ‘Letter to the World From Jerusalem’. The letter, widely published after the 6 Day War, proclaims that the Jewish right to Jerusalem is a fact and the world has no right challenge it.
Students lighting candle in memory of Prof. Lebresco at the Holocaust Memorial gathering in Manhattan Beach.
Manhattan Beach is a neighborhood that is becoming home to more and more immigrants every year. This year, the Holocaust Memorial Committee recognized that it was 40 years ago that the struggle to save Soviet Jewry began, for with the closing of diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Israel, so too was the door to emigration closed to Jews who wanted to leave the Soviet Union.
During the candle lighting ceremony a special tribute was given to Professor Liviu Libresci, z”l, a Holocaust survivor who sacrificed himself to save his students during the massacre at Virginia Tech in April.
Attendees examining models of concentration camps done as part of an educational project sponsored by Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz.
(Photos by Shmuel Ben Eliezer)
As always, the highlight of the program was the awarding of the Steven Cymbrowitz/HMC/Lena Cymbrowitz Foundation/David S. Sterner and Slyvia Steiner Charitable Trust Essay, Poetry and Art Contest, which was open to students from all over the Brooklyn area. This program has seen increasing participation every year, fuelling the hope that through Holocaust education and awareness, hatred of others can be stamped out in future generations.
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