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TOM HAMAR COMMENTARY

Holocaust Memorial Day, 5759

A survivor and the child of a survivor were among the speakers at the Memorial Acad-
emy hosted Sunday at Congregation B'nai Moshe, sponsored by Shaarit Haplaytah of
Detroit and the Holocaust Memorial Center. Their comments are reprinted here. The
Academy was a tribute to the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust and to
Israel's victims of terrorism. HMC Director Charles Rosenzveig noted at the event
that September will mark the 60th anniversary of the period known as the Holocaust.
Speaking about B'nai Moshe, Rabbi Elliot Pachter said: "We are a community that
includes a large number of survivors ache Shoah, a large number of families with
personal contact with the Shoah and a commitment to preserving the history of our
people (both the tragedy and the treasure). We are also a community that includes a
commitment to insuring that the future generation of our membership will remain
enlightened about the truths of the past and will be inspired to remain strong in their
goal to end needless hatred and violence and instead produce world peace."

I Remember

father and my sister who were
plucked in the midst of their
e gather to
lives and confronted with an
commemorate
unimaginable fate — moved
the murder of
into a condensed ghetto with
our families,
horrible conditions.
our communities, our people
Every day, a wonderful,
and the way of life of a
kind and moral people died
thousand years of European
in the streets from starvation
GUSTAV
Jewish history.
and disease. Later on, the
BERENHOLZ
The memories of that dark
remaining people were
Holocaust Survivor packed into cattle cars with-
period haunt us every day of
our lives. I was raised in a
out food or water and driven
home with great love. My father, my
to Treblinka. In Treblinka, my father
mother, my sister were good, law-abid-
and sister, together with other Jews of
ing people. They would never harm
Warsaw, were shoved into the gas
anyone. The Germans had no moral or
chambers by the Germans and their
ethical concerns about the sadistic acts
collaborators.
they performed against our people.
My father and sister, I think daily
Day in and day out, I think of my
of your thoughts on those terrible
moments of your life. I cannot, will
not
and should not ever forger. My
Gustav Berenholz of Farmington Hills
father
and sister, I love you very
is chairman of the Executive Committee
much. I miss you terribly.
of the Holocaust Memorial Center in
Rest in peace; I will remember. ❑
West Bloomfield.

We Remember

HAIM (Children of Holo-
caust-survivors Association In
Michigan) is an organization
composed of the children of
survivors of metropolitan Detroit. As
children of survivors, we are dedicated
to the importance of remembering what
happened to our people — you, our
families — only 55 years ago.
Over the past 19 years, CHAIM has
done much educational programming in
our community to help remember the
Holocaust. Every year, we conduct an
essay contest for high school students
throughout the state of Michigan about
why it is important to remember the
Holocaust. We conduct lectures and
programs and we raise money for Holo-
caust educational projects. We pledge to
you, the survivors, that we will continue
our efforts to do more.
. We recently completed the celebra-
tion of Pesach. In the Haggadah, we
are instructed to remember what hap-
pened to our people and to imagine
that we ourselves were slaves in Egypt.
We can apply the lessons of Pesach
to the Holocaust.
Only one generation ago, you, our
parents, were slaves in Europe. You
survived the unspeakable treatment at
the hands of murderers. Six million in
our families were destroyed. When we
speak about the Holocaust, we are not
talking about history; we are talking
about what happened to our own fam-
ilies. Most of us did not grow up with
grandparents, with uncles, aunts or

cousins. This is
why we must
remember and
speak out to
ensure that no fur-
ther genocide will
occur against our
people or any
DR. CHARLES other peoples.
Today, we see c_/
SILOW
the horror that is
Child Of
occurring in Koso-
A Survivor
vo. What is hap-
pening there is not
the same as the Holocaust; however, it
is a terrible human tragedy. As chil-
dren of survivors, we must speak out
against the torture and murdering of
innocent victims. We know what
tragedy and human suffering are. If
only the world would have cared
about the Jewish people 55 years ago.
Thank God, you survived the Holo-
caust and created new lives and new
families in a new land. To you survivors,
we, your children, pledge that we will
always remember. We pledge that we
will carry on the legacy of remembrance.
We will remember the Holocaust and
we will teach it to our children and they
to their children and so on.
Just as it is written in the Haggadah,
we will remember throughout the gener-
ations of history. The Jewish people sur-
vived and mir zeinen do, we are here. ❑

Dr. Charles Silow of Huntington
Woods is the founder and president of
CHAIM, an organization for children
of Holocaust survivors.

LETTERS

that hell, in barracks 57 in Buchen-
wald, there was always a minyan. One
rabbi has said that "everything needs
luck, even the sefer Torah ..." Survival
in Auschwitz or Buchenwald needed
luck. It did not bring us luck; but for
some of us, praying to God gave us
some means to go on.
Let us all pray that as the prophet
said, "The existence of the Jewish peo-
ple will never be erased."

Abraham Pasternak
Southfield

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JN Online
Is Terrific

I left Detroit in 1970, living subse-
quently in Toronto, Chicago and now
Los Angeles. The Jewish News has
always been an important link for me

4 /16
1999

34 Detroit Jewish News

Jerry Bernstein
Woodland Hills, Calif.

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f •und

(www.detroitjewishnews.com )
is terrific and much appreciat-
ed. I'm sure other former
Detroiters, once they discover
it, will also make it part of their
weekly reading.

to my hometown. In fact, when I
make my yearly trip in for Passover,
my family always gives me a dozen or
so back issues so that I can catch up.
Now I can catch up weekly online.
Your Web site

During a recent visit to Detroit, I
was surprised to learn that no
Jewish museum exists there.
The Jewish News lists a wonderful variety
of community events and learning
opportunities, but the lack of a venue
for our historical heritage projects and
exhibits seems like a missed opportunity.
Surely there are Detroiters who have the

collections or means to build an institu-
tion that could have housed such
exhibits as the "Treasures of Jewish Cul-
tural Heritage from the Library of the
Jewish Theological Seminary," which is
currently showing at the Detroit Insti-
tute of Arts. Such an institution would
provide large numbers of Detroiters
with an in-house display of Jewish artis-
tic development over the centuries.
Large and small cities all over the U.S.
and Europe have Jewish museums that
instill pride in Jewish culture. For
example, the Charles H. Wright
Museum of African American History
recently opened in Detroit. Can Berlin
and other German cities host Jewish
museums but not Detroit?
I have a collection that I would be
willing to contribute.

Connie Harris
Beverly Hills, Calif.