— Observances paying tribute to Holocaust victims and marking the 38th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising will take place throughout the country Sunday, May 3. The largest, with several thousand people expected to participate, will take place at Temple Emanu-El here.
Benjamin Meed, president of the Warsaw Ghetto Resistance Organization (WACRO) said, “This year, more than ever before, the commemoration will represent the unified expression of the American Jewish community — both those born in the United States and the survivors who come to these shores after World War II. We will pay tribute to the U.S. and armed forces who liberated us 36 years ago from the Nazi death camps.”
Samuel Pisar, international lawyer and author of “Blood and Hope,” and himself a survivor of the Bialystoker Ghetto and Auschwitz, will be the guest speaker. Joining Pisar will be Metropolitan Opera tenor Misha Raitzin, chanting memorial prayers and later singing ghetto songs; Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Yehuda Blum, and Mayor Edward Koch. Also present will be Secretary of the Army John Marsh, Jr. to receive a certificate of appreciation for the U.S. armed forces’ part in the liberation of Jews from the Nazi concentration camps 36 years ago.
To help accomodate the expected large turnout, the Parks Department is erecting bleachers across the street from the Temple and police are shutting off side streets and sections of Fifth Avenue, where Temple Emanu-El is located.
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