A
DAV
TO
EMEMSER
Holocaust Memorial Center's annual Yom HaShoah
program commemorates those who perished.
HARRY KIRSBAUM
Staff Writer
somber mood fell over
the crowd in
Handleman Hall at the
Jewish Community
Center in West Bloomfield on
Sunday as 575 metro Detroiters
paid tribute to the 6 million Jews
who died in the Holocaust.
The commemoration, spon-
sored by the Holocaust Memorial
Center and Shaarit Haplaytah of
Detroit, included a dance per-
formance set to the music of
Schindler's List, a candlelighting
ceremony, poetry readings and
speeches.
"Stunned and bewildered, our
people — raised in an environ-
ment of compassion and love —
clung to the belief that the initial
unprecedented evil they wit-
nessed was an isolated event that
would not and could not possi-
bly be repeated," said Gustav
Berenholz, executive committee
chairman of the West
Bloomfield-based HMC, in an
emotional speech.
"How wrong we were. The evil
(of the Holocaust) not only was
continuous but each day it
became more horrifying."
To the 1.5 million children
who perished in the Holocaust,
the Farmington Hills resident
said, We miss you and are tor-
tured by remembering how
beautiful you were — your
smiles, your joys, and the great
potentials you possessed. All of
this went up in ashes. We miss
you so much. We will never,
never forget you. Rest in peace."
Rabbi Charles Rosenzveig,
HMC founder and executive
director, said anti-Semitism, the
Versailles treaty and the post-
World War I economy were all
factors in triggering the
Holocaust. What made the
Holocaust possible in Germany
day after day for five years was
an added indispensable variable
that characterized the German
mentality of the time.
"The lynchpin was the charac-
ter of the people who believed
that whatever was proved to be
good for them, that was all that
mattered," he said. "A kind of
realism that was not restrained,
that was not disciplined, that
doesn't know any limits. It was a
culture that was nurtured in
Germany for many centuries.
"There was one aspect that
characterized their people for so
many years, namely the deifica-
tion of their leaders. While that
characteristic has been signifi-
candy reduced today, forgiveness
to the Germans can only be
given by survivors themselves."
.
About 100 people lit yahrtzeit
(memorial) candles at the HMC
eternal flame adjacent to the
JCC after the commemoration.
Metro Detroit observed Yom
HaShoah (Holocaust
Remembrance Day, actually
April 19) on Sunday.
Lawrence Wolfe, JCC president,
said, "To remember the Shoah is
to remember individuals, not just
numbers, because whole families
were obliterated without anyone to
remember who they were and
what they loved. On Yom
HaShoah, we remember them." E
1. Helena Lebovic of Southfield,
a survivor, lights a memorial
candle at the JCC.
2. In song, Cantor David
Montefiore of Congregation
Beth Ahm remembers the
victims of the Shoah.
3. Lawrence Wolfe,
JCC president.
4. Gustav Berenholz,
survivor
5. Rabbi Charles Rosenzveig,
HMC executive director.
6 Survivors light yahrtzeit
candles at the HMC.
7 The American Dance
Academy of Commerce
Township ensemble performs.