On Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Jewish community commemorates the 6 million Jews who were killed in the Holocaust and honors the lives of those who survived. The day will be observed across the DMV with film screenings, book talks and commemoration events.
The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington will host its annual Holocaust commemoration on April 12 in Fairfax, featuring Holocaust survivor Irene Fogel Weiss, a northern Virginia resident, as the keynote speaker.
The program will also be recorded and posted on the Pozez Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia’s YouTube page.
New this year, JCRC is holding a teen interfaith conversation with Holocaust survivor Peter Feigl, planned for Jewish teens and their non-Jewish peers from across the region.
Also on April 12, Silver Spring’s Congregation Har Tzeon-Agudath Achim will host a screening of Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest” (2023) in honor of Yom HaShoah. The Academy Award-winning film follows a top Nazi official and his wife, who strive to build a “dream life” for their family in a house next to Auschwitz.
The film doesn’t show a single frame of the concentration camp or victims of the Holocaust. Instead, it illustrates a family’s idyllic daily life as a genocide is carried out right next to them.
“The film opens a powerful space to consider the legacy of atrocities and the boundaries of cruelty,” the event listing read.
From April 13 to 17, visitors of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Halls of Remembrance are invited to read the names of Holocaust victims to honor those who were killed. Visitors may also listen as names are read or light a memorial candle.
The Museum is also hosting a national commemoration event live from the U.S. Capitol on April 14, which will be livestreamed for attendees. The ceremony will feature remarks from Holocaust survivors, members of Congress and other dignitaries, plus a performance by the U.S. Army Band.
“This year’s observance is especially important, given the continuing surge in violent antisemitism and increased Holocaust denial and distortion,” the event listing read.
In addition to a memorial candle-lighting, the event aims to mark America’s 250th anniversary by honoring Americans who rescued European Jews, U.S. soldiers who defeated Nazi Germany during World War II and Holocaust survivors who experienced freedom after immigrating to the U.S.
Sixth & I’s Holocaust Remembrance Day service on April 13 includes music, prayer and a candle lighting ceremony to commemorate those who perished in the Shoah. Attendees will also hear from a Holocaust survivor, 3GDC leadership and other members of the third-generation Holocaust survivor community.
Temple Rodef Shalom’s Rabbi Amy Schwartzman and Cantor Michael Shochet will lead a brief Yom HaShoah observance on April 13. Afterwards, author Maya Klinger-Cohen will share her insights into children’s literature about the Shoah and discuss her book, “The Photographer’s Son,” the true Holocaust survival story of 5-year-old Gavra Mandil, whose father was saved by an Albanian Muslim family.
Its Hebrew version won the Yad Vashem Award for Educational Expertise as an excellent Holocaust-related book for children and youth.
The Pozez JCC will host local author Todd Diamond to discuss his book, “Pass the Trauma, Please,” a “not-so-depressing” Holocaust memoir based on his father’s story. Diamond demonstrates how trauma affects future generations of descendants, a premise derived from a scientific paper that found genetic changes in children of Shoah survivors.
“If you’re looking for something different to do to observe this normally sad occasion, come to the [JCC] on April 14 for an evening of unusual anecdotes that might actually make you laugh!” Shari Berman, Pozez JCC’s adult enrichment director, wrote in a Facebook post.
Also on April 14, B’nai Israel Congregation member Sandra Landis, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, will share her mother’s story of being forcibly taken from her Hungary home as a young schoolgirl in 1944, along with her family members.
On April 19, Magen David Sephardic Congregation in Rockville will screen “The Albanian Code,” a 2020 documentary feature illustrating the little-known story of saving thousands of Jewish refugees in Albania during World War II. Benjy Neumann, the son of a Holocaust survivor rescued in Albania, will tell his mother’s story and answer audience questions at the event.
“For a Muslim country to do what they did in the middle of World War II and have it one of the best-kept secrets is just really a shame,” Gail Shirazi, a member of MDSC who is coordinating the program, told Washington Jewish Week. “The story should be told.”
She added that the “fascinating story” teaches viewers a lesson and demonstrates how people can help one another in difficult times. The film exemplifies the Albanian code of honor, “besa,” which compels them to help people in need.
“It goes from generation to generation, and it’s a promise to help people in the world,” Shirazi said. “So it’s a good message, and we need it today.”
