Tribute Paid to Children Who Died in the Holocaust

The million Jewish children who died at the hands of the Nazis were remembered last night at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center here through prayers, readings, anecdotes, poems and songs.

Sponsored by the Holocaust Survivors Memorial Foundation, the tribute began with a specially-made film of actress Liv Ullman visiting Auschwitz recently. It was interspersed with film clips taken of children during the Holocaust.

The program included a candlelight procession by 200 school children, addressed by Jewish, Protestant and Catholic clergy, and presentations by Giora Feidman, Theodore Bikel, Mary Tyler Moore, Estelle Parsons, Tony Roberts and other performers.

Rabbi Arthur Schneier of the Park East Synagogue, a survivor of the Budapest Ghetto, said that the children who died are dependent on survivors and on future generations to keep their memories alive.

Rev. Michael Cantley of St. Anastasia’s Roman Catholic Church in Douglaston, Queens, representing the Bishop of Brooklyn, Most Rev. Frances Mugavero, said that the Holocaust was the result of “the neopagan religion of Nazism. “But Jack Eisner, the survivor who is founder and president of the sponsoring group, said that the origins of the Holocaust lay in Christianity’s wrongful teachings that Jews are evil and diabolical.

While Eisner credited the Righteous Christians, especially the Danes, who saved Jewish lives, he said that the Holocaust can happen again. “Hitler only lit the match, “Eisner said. “I, the survivor, appeal to Christianity and ask for a new deal.”

Eisner described as “morally indecent to us” President Reagan’s decision not to visit the Dachau death camp during his forthcoming visit to West Germany and a parallel decision, reportedly under review by the Administration, to appear at a cemetery of World War II German dead.