Mar 19, 2015
Holocaust Remembrance Day Event to Commemorate 70th Anniversary of Concentration Camp Liberations and 25th Anniversary of Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach
Join hundreds of local residents, as they commemorate the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration and death camps, and the 25th anniversary of the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach, a Committee of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, during a solemn observance of Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Memorial Day) on Sunday, April 12, at 6:30 p.m.
The community will gather at the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach to hear testimony from Magda Bader, a Hungarian concentration camp survivor, and George Katzman, a soldier with General George Patton’s 3rd Army when it liberated portions of the Dachau and Langwasser Lager concentration camps.
Other speakers will include Andrew Hall, Chair of the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach; Norman Braman, Chair Emeritus of the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach; and Eliza Diane Schemama, a witness to recent European anti-Semitism.
The Yom HaShoah program also will feature a musical performance by members of the New World Symphony, as well as creative readings, cantorial solos, a memorial candle-lighting ceremony and community prayers.
In 1945, 70 years ago, as Allied and Russian military forces overcame Nazi troops, they first encountered Nazi concentration and death camps in Eastern Europe and Germany. The Allies and Russians were shocked to discover tens of thousands of terrorized, starving and diseased prisoners; huge piles of unburied murdered Jewish corpses; and storehouses of personal possessions seized by the Nazis from their prisoners for shipment to Germany. The news of these camp liberations gave the world its first indication of the scope of the Holocaust and the dimension of Hitler’s genocidal plans for Jews.
In 1984, a small group of Holocaust survivors joined together to develop a permanent memorial in Miami to the six million Jews who perished at the hands of the Nazis. The Holocaust Memorial Committee was formally established 25 years ago as a private non-profit organization. The committee decided that Miami Beach was the right location for such a memorial, as South Florida has one of the highest populations of Holocaust survivors in the U.S. Designed by renowned architect and artist Kenneth Treister, the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach took more than four years to build and was officially dedicated on February 4, 1990.
The Yom HaShoah observance is being presented by the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach, a Committee of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, in partnership with a coalition of civic, cultural, educational and charitable organizations. It is supported by the City of Miami Beach Cultural Affairs Program, Cultural Arts Council and State of Florida Department of Education.
The Holocaust Memorial is located at 1933-1945 Meridian Avenue, Miami Beach. Free parking will be available south of the Memorial. In case of rain, the program will be held at Temple Beth Sholom, 4144 Chase Avenue, Miami Beach.
For additional information about the Yom HaShoah event, call 305.538.1663, email [email protected] or visit www.HolocaustMemorialMiamiBeach.org.
