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    ‘We are here:’ Holocaust museum ceremony honors victims, survivors – and stands up to antisemitism
    • April 14, 2023

    “You have tried to wipe us out, but we are here.”

    This is the message of the Partisans’ Song — “Zog Nit Keynmol (Never Say)” in Yiddish — often recited at events commemorating Yom Hashoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, in the spring.

    The Jewish community in Los Angeles solemnly remembers the Holocaust, when millions of Jews were killed during World War II, including those who survived and fought against the Nazi regime. Decades later, amid rising antisemitism locally and internationally, the resilient faith community continues to stand up against hate.

    An archive image shows families living in the Warsaw Jewish Ghetto in the 1940s. (Photo courtesy of Carla Schalman/Holocaust Museum LA)

    An archive image from the Warsaw Jewish Ghetto, taken in the 1940s. (Photo courtesy of Carla Schalman/Holocaust Museum LA)

    Community leaders, including Henry Slucki, sing the Partisans’ Song at a 2019 Yom Hashoa commemoration at the Holocaust Museum LA. (Photo courtesy of Carla Schalman/Holocaust Museum LA)

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    For the first time since 2019, the Holocaust Museum LA is bringing back its Yom Hashoa commemoration to Pan Pacific Park on Sunday, April 16 at 2 p.m. The outdoor ceremony will bring together Holocaust survivors, elected officials and Jewish community leaders for speeches, traditional prayers and music.

    Yom Hashoa is traditionally marked on the 27th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, a week after the seventh day of Passover. This year’s commemoration also falls on the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising that began April 19, 1943 — the eve of Passover — when leaders in the largest Jewish ghetto in Poland fought against Germans rounding up Jews to deport them to death camps. That year, similar uprisings also took place at the Sobibor and Treblinka concentration camps.

    The Jewish community remembers the Warsaw Ghetto, Sobibor and Treblinka uprisings as “timeless symbols of resistance, perseverance and defiance” in the face of hatred.

    Organizers say this year’s Holocaust Remembrance Day encompasses a theme of standing together against past and present antisemitism. The Anti-Defamation League reported that such incidents — including criminal and non-criminal cases of harassment, vandalism and assault of Jews — have hit a record-high nationwide. In 2022, 3,697 incidents were reported; a 36% increase from the 2,717 incidents in 2021, and the highest number on record since the ADL began tracking such incidents in 1979.

    Los Angeles officials and faith leaders have discussed ways to combat ongoing attacks against Jews — starting with education. They hope to provide more classroom and law enforcement trainings recognizing antisemitism, and show solidarity at these community events. Antisemitism didn’t end after the war, city officials said at a meeting in March.

    Sunday’s Holocaust Remembrance Day commemoration is hosted in partnership with the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League Los Angeles and The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles. LA Mayor Karen Bass, Israel Consul General Hillel Newman, and ADL Los Angeles director Jeffrey Abrams will speak.

    Holocaust survivor Harry Davids gives a presentation at the Holocaust Museum LA. Davids, Los Angeles and Jewish community leaders will commemorate Yom Hashoa, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, and the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising at a public ceremony at the museum on Sunday, April 16. (Photo courtesy of Tamara Leigh/Holocaust Museum LA)

    Holocaust survivor Harry Davids gives a presentation at the Holocaust Museum LA. Davids, Los Angeles and Jewish community leaders will commemorate Yom Hashoa, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, and the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising at a public ceremony at the museum on Sunday, April 16. (Photo courtesy of Carla Schalman/Holocaust Museum LA)

    Holocaust survivor Henry Slucki gives a presentation at the Holocaust Museum LA. Slucki, along with Los Angeles and Jewish community leaders will commemorate Yom Hashoa, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, and the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising at a public ceremony at the museum on Sunday, April 16. (Photo courtesy of Tamara Leigh/Holocaust Museum LA)

    Henry Slucki fled the Nazi regime as a child in 1942, crossing the Pyrenees mountains on foot with his family and surviving the war. Now 88, Slucki gives presentations and speaks regularly at the Holocaust Museum LA. (Photo courtesy of Tamara Leigh/Holocaust Museum LA)

    Holocaust survivor Henry Slucki gives a presentation at the Holocaust Museum LA. Slucki, along with Los Angeles and Jewish community leaders will commemorate Yom Hashoa, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, and the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising at a public ceremony at the museum on Sunday, April 16. (Photo courtesy of Tamara Leigh/Holocaust Museum LA)

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    Holocaust survivors and their families are also involved in the museum’s solemn event. Included is 81-year-old Harry Davids, whose parents were killed in Sobibor, a featured speaker. Musicians from the Colburn School will perform a composition by survivor Herbert Zipper. Participants will recite the Mourner’s Kaddish and the “El Malei Rachamim,” a prayer for departed souls.

    Survivors Henry Slucki and David Lenga will sing the Partisans’ Song, the traditional Yiddish anthem for Holocaust survivors inspired by the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.

    “We mark (Yom Hashoa) to remember that Jews did not go as lambs to the slaughter, as depicted in some accounts. The Jews resisted… and though they did not overthrow this huge Nazi army, they made their mark — and now Jews all over the world remember, as a symbol of resisting tyranny,” Slucki said before the event.

    Slucki fled the Nazi regime as a child in 1942, crossing the Pyrenees mountains on foot with his family and surviving the war. Now, at 88, Slucki gives presentations and speaks regularly at the Holocaust Museum LA, and has sung the Partisans’ Song at past Holocaust Museum LA remembrance events.

    Related links

    LA city officials and Jewish leaders tackle ways to fight antisemitism
    With anti-Semitism on the rise, Jews must call out hatred on the left and the right
    Former neo-Nazi to faith leaders at Irvine forum: ‘Dialogues can change lives’
    ‘Auschwitz — Not Long Ago, Not Far Away’ exhibit coming to Reagan Library
    Ukrainian athletes at USC, CSUN try to stay strong, positive while war rages

    Yom Hashoa is a poignant reminder that people can recognize each other’s differences, and perhaps learn from one another, Slucki said. Art has always been an expression of “heroic resistance” — just like what happened in the Jewish uprisings.

    “It’s not just standing up for your own people, but standing up for any issue you consider a moral obligation. The (Partisans’) song literally says ‘We are here.’ I am here. I have children and grandchildren, and they all know the story. They know you can’t keep silent or be an idle bystander… you have to roll up your sleeves and get active,” Slucki said. “This ceremony (is) a way of saying, not only we are here, we are thriving. Though the struggle continues, we are going to stand together.”

    The Holocaust Museum LA is located at 100 The Grove Dr, at Pan Pacific Park in Los Angeles. Sunday’s ceremony begins at 2 p.m.

    Event details: https://www.holocaustmuseumla.org/event-details/yom-hashoah-commemoration-1

    ​ Orange County Register 

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