Metro
Holocaust Remembrance
Yom HaShoah annual event honors victims and survivors.
MEMBER TB
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Zekelman, keynote speaker Tibor Rubin, Shaarit Haplaytah President Abe Weberman
B'nai B'rith International member Bill Braun of Farmington Hills reads names of
children killed during the Holocaust as part of the group's "Unto Every Person
and HMC President Michael Treblin
There is a Name" project.
Dr. Charles Silow of CHAIM, HMC Interim Director Guy Stern, event co-chair Alan
Keri Guten Cohen
Story Development Editor
A
n overflow crowd of about 450
packed the Holocaust Memorial
Center for the annual Yom
HaShoah or Holocaust Remembrance Day
commemoration Sunday, April 19.
This was the first Yom HaShoah event
since the death four months ago of HMC
founder Rabbi Charles Rosenzweig, who
always set the tone for this solemn com-
memoration.
Guy Stern, HMC interim director, called
for a moment of silence to remember the
rabbi as well as Saul Waldman, a HMC
supporter and an ardent Zionist who died
April 10. Waldman was instrumental in
building the original HMC adjacent to
the Jewish Community Center in West
Bloomfield as well as its new permanent
home in Farmington Hills.
"I'm having a hard time without the
rabbi on the dias," said Alan Zekelman,
event co-chair with HMC President
Michael Treblin. "We will redouble our
efforts to build on his legacy as we stand
upon the foundation he build for us."
He called Waldman an unsung hero who
spent his entire days working on the new
building, while running his business, too.
Before introducing the guest speaker,
Stern told the audience, "Today we honor
both victims and survivors. We recall
both their suffering and their incredible
courage ... we say to all of them: We shall
never forget you:'
Keeping His Promise
U.S. Army Cpl. (Ret.) Tibor Rubin of
Arizona employed both tears and humor
to tell the story of a promise he made
to himself and kept without fail. A
Hungarian Jew, Rubin was 13 when he was
captured by the Germans and taken to the
Mauthausen concentration camp. He lost
most of his family in the Holocaust.
A 49-year-old man he met in the camp
gave him advice: Stay away from the
Germans; steal what you can; and try to
stay alive so one day you can tell your
Jewish brothers and sisters what hap-
pened. Rubin did stay alive. He was liber-
ated in 1945 by U.S. troops.
"They were so nice to us, and we were
sacks of bones loaded with lice he said. "I
promised myself that if I go to America, I
will become a GI Joe."
In the U.S., he tried to enlist, but flunked
the English test twice before other recruits
allowed him to peek at their answers. By
sheer luck, he earned the highest score.
He ended up in language school and
then overseas with the 29th Infantry
Regiment during the Korean War. He
earned his first military medals when
a prejudiced officer left him all alone to
guard ammunition on a hill.
"I prayed to God, Jesus, Buddha, Moses
to get me outta here Rubin recalled. He
fooled the North Koreans into thinking
more men were atop that hill as he lobbed
grenades and used other weapons. He
rejoined his outfit and when they went
back to get the ammunition, they found
hundreds of dead enemy soldiers.
Later, he and other soldiers were cap-
tured by the Chinese. Men were dying
of illness at the rate of 40 per day. When
the Chinese tried to let him go because
he was Hungarian and not an American
citizen, he refused. Instead, he used skills
learned while foraging for food during the
Holocaust to save the lives of 40 men.
Among his many medals is the coveted
Congressional Medal of Honor.
"Today I have shalom, peace he said.
"This is the best country in the world. I
have never been as free
In a separate program outside the
HMC, from noon to 5 p.m., B'nai B'rith
International Great Lakes Region orga-
nized volunteers to recite the names, coun-
tries and ages of about 4,000 of the 1.5
million children killed in the Holocaust.
Part of an international program called
"Unto Every Person There is a Name
readers came from 16 community groups,
including Holocaust survivors, represen-
tatives from the Archdiocese of Detroit,
teens from Jewish youth groups and mem-
bers of the Michigan Board of Rabbis.
"It is important to remember the
children's lives because many died with
their entire families and they have no one
to say Kaddish for them," said Lila Zorn,
project co-chair with Micki Grossman and
Jeff Kahan.
U.S. Rep. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield
Hills, read names of children from
Holland. He found the experience so
meaningful he didn't want to stop, Zorn
said — even when he was told he was 20
minutes late for his next appointment.
"When you read names they become
personalized for you — you're involver
Zorn said, adding that's why it was so
important to get teens to participate.
Following the recitation of an original
composition by Shari Ferber Kaufman
of West Bloomfield based on her father's
Holocaust experience, Shaarit Haplaytah
members and their families came up to
light candles in memory of victims and
fallen Israeli soldiers.
Inside the HMC, the commemoration
ended appropriately with all gathered say-
ing Kaddish.
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April 23 2009
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