More than 5,000 people, mostly Holocaust survivors, their children and grandchildren, participated today in the 41st annual commemoration of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising at Temple Emanu-El here. They packed the sanctuary and crowded the streets outside, listening in hushed silence to the speeches, the songs, prayers, hymns and spoken recollections of the Holocaust, and the vows never to forget.
The event drew non-Jews as well as Jews to the hour-and-a-half ceremonies in the stately Reform synagogue facing Manhattan’s Central Park. It was attended by New York political and civic leaders. But the emphasis was on the second and third generations, the offspring of the Holocaust survivors who were enjoined by speaker after speaker to bear witness into the future so that the past will not be repeated.
A HOLOCAUST CAN HAPPEN AGAIN
Benjamin Meed, chairman of the United Commemoration Committee and president of the Warsaw Ghetto Resistance Organization, said that today, in 1984, the world has realized that the tragedy of the Holocaust suffered by Jews “can happen again — this time on a cosmic scale — to all peoples.
“It took us a long time, almost a lifetime — 41 years — but today we are no longer alone,” Meed said. “And it is all because the survivors kept faith with the final commandment imparted to us by the kedoshim (martyrs) — ‘Zichor’ — Remember.”
“Let us remember the Holocaust as it was,” Mead said. “It was painful. It was bitter. It was ugly. It was inhumane. But it was real. Let us not permit the Holocaust to be diluted or vulgarized. Let us not diminish its meaning in treating every event in human history — every instance of human suffering and discrimination — as a mini-Holocaust.”
NEED TO CONTINUE PARENTS’ WORK
Menachem Rosensaft, chairman of the International Network of Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, also spoke directly to the younger generation, “We, the sons and daughters of the survivors of the Holocaust have committed ourselves to providing the necessary continuity for our parents’ work — your work — of the past 30 years,” he said.
“Together with you, we shall protect and perpetuate the sanctity and the inviolability of the memory of the Holocaust. We shall prevent it from being exploited, mythologized or desecrated by anyone for any purpose.”
Rosensaft added: “But we have another, equally critical responsibility. Tragically, the basic character of man has not changed since 1945. We live in a world of ever-escalating anti-Semitism … At the same time, atrocities in Central America and India, the brutal persecution of the Bahai in Iran, and the continuing international disgrace represented by South Africa’s reprehensible policy of apartheid serve to remind us that Jews are never the only victims of the world’s evil and venality.
“Thus, it is not enough for us only to commemorate the past. Rather, we must be sensitive to all forms of human suffering, and we must take our place at the forefront of the struggle against racial hatred and oppression of any kind.” Ambassador Meir Rosenne of Israel told the audience, “After the atrocities committed by the Nazis, we witness today a new type of atrocity: Jews being killed by Arab terrorists, whether in Munich at the Olympic games, in a kindergarten in Nahariya, in a school in Maalot and in a bus going to Ashkelon. All those who condone terrorism, whether the truck bombs in Beirut or the killing of Jews in the streets of Jerusalem, all those who claim Israel should negotiate with the terrorists of the PLO are in fact lending support to such acts.”
Rosenne added that “The world should finally understand that terrorism knows no borders and that the only way to fight terrorism is to adopt sanctions against all countries that give assistance to terrorists.” He pledged that Israel will ensure forever the existence of the Jewish homeland “and will make sure that the generations that follow will know and cherish the memory of those who died so that we may live.”
KOCH SCORES FARRAKHAN AND JACKSON
Mayor Edward Koch of New York City read a proclamation designating this date, April 29, as Warsaw Ghetto Commemoration Day in New York. Koch, in brief remarks, denounced Black Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan who said in a radio address recently that Hitler was a “great man”; and the Mayor castigated Democratic Presidential hopeful Rev. Jesse Jackson for not repudiating Farrakhan’s support. “But we are here today to say as loudly and as clearly as we can that the memory and the meaning of the Holocaust will never be forgotten,” Koch said.
‘WE WILL NOT FORGET’
Sen. Alfonse D’Amato (R. NY) stated: “At a time when some are attempting to deny the history of the Holocaust, our presence here today is more important than ever. Be we Jew or gentile, we have a moral obligation to those who endured the Holocaust and to those generations who know nothing about it.
“The candles we light in the memory of the millions slain 40 years ago illuminate much more than the walls of this synagogue. They provide proof positive that we will not forget, that we will not let others forget, that we will continue to fight against barbarism,” D’Amato said.
Jeane Kirkpatrick, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, who was to have addressed the memorial ceremonies was unable to appear. An aide, Carl Gershman, read a message from the envoy which also contained greetings and expressions of moral support from President Reagan.
Kirkpatrick’s message noted the long list of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish resolutions and proclamations at the UN and observed that when some Western delegates tell her it is just rhetoric, she reminds them that the Holocaust had its roots in the rhetoric of Hitler and the Nazis.
OTHER ELEMENTS IN THE CEREMONIES
The ceremonies at Temple Emanu-El, broadcast live on radio station WEVD, were highlighted by a collective recitation of Kaddish and the chanting of the El Mole Rahamim by Cantor Misha Raitzin. The hymn, “Ani Maamin” (I Believe) was sung by the Temple Emanu-El choir.
The choir of the Kinneret Day School, 100 children, entered the sanctuary carrying candles which later formed a large Star of David. The youngsters sang in Hebrew, Yiddish and English. A solemn candle-lighting ceremony was conducted by six survivors, representing the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust.
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