SAN DIEGO (Press Release)–The Jewish Federation of San Diego County will present a special Holocaust commemoration (Yom Hashoah) program at 1:30 p.m., Sunday, April 7. This Holocaust commemoration has been held in San Diego for more than three decades and last year, was the largest in the United States with more than 700 people in attendance. Equal or greater attendance is expected at this year’s ceremony. The theme will be Remember, Honor, and Teach: Children of the Holocaust, and be held at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, in the Garfield Theater, 4126 Executive Drive, La Jolla.
Survivor Teresa Racz Fischlowitz will share stories from her stirring experience as a child of the Holocaust. Fischlowitz was born in 1937 in Kosice, now Slovakia. She spent her seventh birthday with her family in a cattle car going to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. What happened next is a harrowing story of fortitude, loyalty and survival. Fischlowitz’s talk will be followed by a brief filmed interview of multiple child survivors who endured the atrocities of the Holocaust in very different ways- from hiding in the forest to assuming new identities.
The program will open with a military color guard reminiscent of camp liberation, a musical presentation, and a traditional candle lighting ceremony, with candles lit by Holocaust survivors and their descendants in memory of those who perished. Interspersed throughout the program will be musical selections. The entire event will last approximately 90 minutes.
The event is a collaboration of the San Diego Rabbinical Association, Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of San Diego County, the New Life Club, the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center Jacobs Family Campus, the Center for Jewish Culture, Jewish Family Service, Jewish Community Foundation, and the Anti-Defamation League.
The program is free and open to the public. For more information about the 2013 Community Holocaust Commemoration contact Linda Feldman, Director, Jewish Community Relations Council, at 858.737.7138
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Preceding provided by Jewish Federation of San Diego County