To honor local survivors of the Holocaust and to pay tribute to those who perished, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston (JCRC) and its partners will present From Holocaust to New Life: How Will We Remember?, a community commemoration of Yom HaShoah, on Sunday, May 1, 10:30 A.M. at Faneuil Hall in Boston.
The commemoration convenes the Greater Boston community to remember the Holocaust. Each year the program features Holocaust survivor testimony so their story can be passed on to future generations. The program will highlight the lives survivors built after they escaped the unimaginable horror of the Holocaust and will feature student reflections about how we keep the memory alive.
Eva Fleischmann Paddock, one of the 669 children – mostly Jews – saved by Sir Nicholas Winton (AKA “Britain’s Schindler”) from Czechoslovakia in 1939, will be the featured speaker. Eva was only three when her mother handed her and her older sister Milena over to Winton’s care. They were part of the very few that were eventually reunited with their parents.
It was only after Mr. Winton’s wife found a scrapbook in the attic of their home that he spoke of his all-but-forgotten work in the deliverance of children who, like the parents who gave them up to save their lives, were destined for Nazi concentration camps and extermination.
The ceremony will include the presentation of the inaugural Leadership in Holocaust Education Award to Mary Beth Donovan, Principal at Tenney Grammar School in Methuen, MA. Determined to teach the real Holocaust history to her students, she invited Israel Arbeiter, Holocaust survivor, to speak to her class about his experience. His story of struggle and survival changed her life, as well as those of her students. The Israel Arbeiter Holocaust Essay Contest has been an important part of the curriculum ever since.
“The work that Mary Beth does with her classes is the kind of work that will make the world a better place. Her dedication and commitment to Holocaust education is a beacon of light,” said Mr. Arbeiter.
From Holocaust to New Life: How Will We Remember? is presented in partnership with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants of Greater Boston, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Facing History and Ourselves, Boston 3G and Jewish Family & Children’s Services.
For information, registration or to support the event, visit www.jcrcboston.org/events/yom-hashoah
About Jewish Community Relations Council
JCRC defines and advances the values, interests and priorities of the organized Jewish community in greater Boston in the public square. Visit us at www.jcrcboston.org.
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