On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, many organizations and synagogues gather to remember the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and millions of others persecuted by the Nazis.
Jan. 27 marks the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, which took place on that date in 1945, 81 years ago.
Various Jewish institutions mark the occasion with educational events about the Holocaust this month.
Sephardic Heritage International DC will host its eighth annual congressional Holocaust commemoration on Jan. 21, this year at the United States Capitol.
“We’ve been doing this on the Hill for the past eight years now, and this is the first time that we’re doing it in the Capitol,” said Afraim Katzir, SHIN-DC’s founding director.
The theme of this year’s event is the Holocaust in France, featuring Holocaust survivor Albert Garih, who was born in Paris to a Sephardic Jewish family, as the keynote speaker.
“We want to highlight Holocaust speaker testimony,” Katzir said. “We want to provide an opportunity for members of Congress and staffers to hear firsthand Holocaust survivor testimony each year. With everything going on on the Hill, antisemitism is one of the salient issues on the Hill among lawmakers, so we think it’s important to provide this opportunity for them to hear firsthand Holocaust survivor testimony,” Katzir said.
Hearing from survivors is crucial with the dwindling number of Holocaust survivors alive today, Katzir added: “[Our] grandchildren will not have this opportunity.”
Community leaders can request a Holocaust survivor for a speaking engagement with the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington’s online form, available year-round.
“Research shows that providing personal connection along with learning about the Holocaust — and for that matter, any historical event — increases empathy and complements our understanding,” said Mandy Book, the JCRC’s assistant director of education programs and services. “There is really no substitute for hearing directly from someone about their own personal experiences — the added credibility of a first-person account combined with the ability to ask questions dimensionally amplifies the learning experience.”
The Bender JCC of Greater Washington will host author Amy Fish on Jan. 22 to share the story behind her book, “One in Six Million,” in honor of IHRD. The tale is a true story about a genealogist and how he traced a Holocaust survivor’s lost identity.
Fish’s talk is hosted by the JCC’s Lessans Family Literary Series.
On Jan. 27, George Mason Judaic Studies, Mason Hillel, Pozez JCC of Northern Virginia and JCRC will host an International Holocaust Remembrance program at George Mason University.
The event features student performances of music and dance that “honor the theme of memory” and a talk by author Elizabeth White, who wrote “The Counterfeit Countess: The Jewish Woman Who Rescued Thousands of Poles During the Holocaust.”
Her book is the true story of a Polish Jewish scholar who assumed the role of an aristocrat to negotiate with top Nazi officials and save thousands of lives.
Speaking of artistic performances, the Counter Extremism Project will bring compositions of the Holocaust to Washington, D.C., with its Jan. 27 concert at the Kennedy Center.
The concert features music composed in ghettos and death camps, honoring a “repertoire that endured against unimaginable evil,” according to the website.
Also in the nation’s capital that day, the Embassy of Sweden will facilitate a conversation on the “evolving nature of antisemitism in Western societies.” The embassy will host two researchers from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, who will present their most recent findings on antisemitic discourse in Sweden, the U.S. and the United Kingdom, and what these insights mean for measuring antisemitism globally.
“Every country in the West … has experienced an uptick in antisemitism,” said David Lunderquist, the embassy’s press counselor.
He noted that he’s seen the perpetrators of antisemitism change over recent years, as well as the rhetoric and language used.
“Antisemitism has a different face, uses different words than it did maybe 15, 20 years ago,” Lunderquist said. “So in order to know what’s happening and to see the trends, and ultimately do something about it, you need to know how to measure it.”
He and Alexandra Bro, the embassy’s press officer, are excited about this new research.
“The idea is that [attendees] will come away having learned something new,” Bro said.
