|
|
April 27, 2007
Remembering those we lost
Second generation joins survivors for moving commemoration.
ROBIN ESROCK
More than 60 Holocaust survivors, joined for the first time by
members of the second generation, gathered at the British Columbia
legislature in Victoria April 16 to commemorate Yom Hashoah.
The ceremony, arranged with the help of the Vancouver Holocaust
Education Centre, the Victoria Holocaust Remembrance and Education
Society and Canadian Jewish Congress Pacific Region, was attended
by Premier Gordon Campbell and several MLAs, including three members
who had lost family in the Shoah. British Columbia was the second
province in Canada to officially recognize Holocaust Remembrance
Day, passing the Holocaust Memorial Day Act in 1999.
Most of the survivors and members of their family were bussed to
Victoria for the ceremony. "Survivors have a sacred duty to
sound the alarm," keynote speaker Robbie Waisman told an Independent
reporter on the ferry. "The Holocaust was our experience
to teach the world compassion."
Originally funded by survivors, Vancouver's Holocaust Education
Centre reaches more than 25,000 students across British Columbia
each year, arranging for survivors to talk to students about their
experience. "We try find a way to reach across ethnic communities,
for the betterment of the community, and to ensure it never happens
again," said founding president Robert Krell.
With an act of anti-Semitism defacing a Richmond shul the day before,
the role survivors play is clearer than ever. But with the passing
of the generation – there are only between 250-300 survivors
in British Columbia – the importance of the "second generation"
has become crucial. "This is the first time we've been invited
by the legislature, and [it] signifies a passing of the torch,"
said Deborah Ramm. "Our generation, the children of suvivors,
are particularly sensitized to racism and discrimination."
At the legislature, eight candles were lit by survivors to commemorate
the six million men, women and children who lost their lives between
1933 and 1945. Among them was Bente Nathan Thomsen, a Danish survivor
who talks at schools about her wartime experience. "We have
to put a face on it," she said, "otherwise it is impossible
to understand."
For the survivors – having been targeted, ignored or marginalized
for much of their lives – being honored by the government was
a sign of finally belonging. Alex Buckman, an organizer of the event
and board member of the Holocaust Education Centre, said that, "survivors
deserve to be honored and respected for what they endured."
"Today, we remember those six million lost to hate and intolerance,"
Campbell intoned. "But we also honor the survivors who embraced
hope and humanity even in the midst of the deepest darkness, and
we rededicate ourselves to upholding their legacy by building a
nation that offers freedom and peace for all."
After lunch, the group were led into the legislature iself, where
they were honored by a full house of MLAs. David Chudnovsky's speech,
commemorating the Shoah and its survivors, received a thunderous
applause.
Waisman, who was liberated from Buchenwald 62 years ago, pointed
out in his speech that the horrors are not yet over. "The Holocaust,
we were told, was so unique that the lesson of tolerance and understanding
for all humanity will have been learned for all time," said
Waisman. " 'Never again' – noble, thought-provoking words,
but only if we act upon them."
He then brought up the topic of Darfur, where an estimated 300,000
innocents have been slaughtered by the janjaweed militia. "Some
people tell me that, during the Holocaust, people didn't know,"
said Waisman. "Maybe so. Instant communication was not readily
available as it is now. What possible excuse do we have today?"
Waisman said the killings in Darfur "must not be allowed to
continue. We still have not learned the lesson from what happened
in Rwanda, Kosovo, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Niger and so many other
places in the world.... We must stop it for the sake of all humanity.
Let us all rededicate ourselves to give new meaning to 'Never again.'
"
"As Holocaust survivors, it is our moral response to be on
guard for all present and future genocides," said Meyer Grinshpan,
a survivor and active member of the campaign for intervention in
Darfur.
Yom Hashoah proved to be a day of reaffirmation, about how one life
can make a difference. "When you hear the miracles behind many
survivors' stories, you realize how lucky we, their children, are
to be here," said Ramm. "Just about every survivor I spoke
to proudly told me about their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
From one life, a new history. Every survivor lives with hope."
Robin Esrock is a Vancouver freelance writer.
^TOP
|
|
