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State hosts Holocaust commemoration.

HARRY KIRSBAUM

Staff Writer

A

gi Rubin didn't mind that Gov. John
Engler did not attend the annual State of
Michigan Holocaust Commemoration at
the Capitol building in Lansing.
To her, every remembrance ceremony is personal.
"It's remembering our loved ones who cannot
speak for themselves," said Rubin, a Holocaust
survivor from Farmington Hills. "By doing this,
we keep their memories alive."
A spokesperson for the governor's office said
Engler was out of the state on a previous com-
mitment booked several months in advance.
Some 80 people — mostly survivors who came

in two chartered buses
from Detroit —
attended the 90-
minute ceremony April
25.
"With this occasion,
we collectively, as a
state, confirm our
desire to keep the
memory of the
Holocaust alive," said State
Sen. Burton Leland, D-Detroit, moderator of
the commemoration. The purpose is "to look
directly at the Holocaust and bear witness to
the survivors and try to glean some meaning
from those horrible, horrible events. To never

Clockwise fi-on top:
The ceremony at the Capitol

State Sen. Burton Leland

Survivors Michael Weiss and Lilly
Weiss listen.

State Rep. Patricia Godchaux, R-
Birmingham, and survivors Iboya
Centeri and Andrew Martin light
candles.

forget and understand each other and say,
`Never Again.'"
The event included a candle-lighting ceremo-
ny and a proclamation from the governor's
office that April 15-22 was Holocaust
Remembrance Week in Michigan. ❑