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Yom Hashoah hits home with virtual broadcast
“Going out to work outside camp one morning, we saw trucks lined up on the railway line. Little faces peeped out. We felt completely helpless. We knew what would happen in a few minutes time when they would be chased out to the gas chambers.”
JORDAN MOSHE
With these words, the sense of dread felt by Holocaust survivor Miriam Lichterman was shared with more than 8 000 people on Yom Hashoah this week. Perhaps even more extraordinary was the fact that they weren’t listening to her at the traditional annual ceremony at West Park Cemetery, but in their homes around the world.
“We wondered why the world was keeping quiet,” said Lichterman. “We couldn’t do anything. We couldn’t even save ourselves. We were helpless.”
Her testimony was part of a unique ceremony hosted by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) on Tuesday, in which the tribute to the victims of the Holocaust was held online for the first time in our community’s history.
“This year is different to the physical, live ceremonies the SAJBD has organised and you have all participated in for decades,” said Mary Kluk, SAJBD national president. “In these stressful and uncertain times, the unique feature about today has been the way we came together as one united community from across South Africa to prepare the ceremony.”
Today, we remember the six million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust, and honour our beloved survivors.”
SAJBD National Chairperson Shaun Zagnoev said that in spite of the fact that no physical ceremonies were taking place this year, modern technology ensured that we could come together in remembrance.
“While we are physically separated, we can at least see and hear together,” he said. “This year’s ceremony could be the most nationally inclusive ceremony our community has ever held.”
Jews around the country contributed towards the memorable event. The poignant Yiddish melodies sung by the daughter of Holocaust survivors, Zola Shuman, and Leigh Sussman resonated as powerfully as any live performance, as did Yael Meltz’s rendition of the Hebrew classic, Keli Keli.
Galit Harris, the granddaughter of survivor Stella Salome, recounted her forebear’s harrowing ordeal and extraordinary escape from Nazi brutality. In spite of suffering tremendous loss and pain, Salome emerged triumphant.
“There are many heroes in the story,” Harris said. “These youths can all be an inspiration to kids today, and we can honour them by telling their stories.
“As we lose the last of the survivors, all that will remain will be their stories. It’s up to us youth to tell these stories, and keep them alive for generations to come.”
Perhaps for this reason, the ceremony included pre-recorded testimony from local survivors, all of whom shared parts of their harrowing ordeal in Nazi concentration camps. In a virtual forum, their testimony was as chilling as it would have been in person.
“When I got my slice of bread, I had a big problem,” said Don Krausz. “Do I eat the whole big meal now, or do I keep a piece for the afternoon when I know I’ll be blood hungry? I remember my decision to eat the whole thing was based on the fact that I was a child. Everyone else was also hungry, and if an adult came to me and tried to take it, I couldn’t prevent him from doing so.”
Irene Fainman recounted the horrors of being forced to stand for hours in the freezing cold.
“If somebody collapsed, they’d put the dogs on them,” she said. “My mother was conscious that I was very small, so she put her hand over both my eyes so I couldn’t see these horrible things and her thumbs in my ears so I wouldn’t hear.”
Because no traditional candle lighting could take place, viewers watched footage filmed earlier this year at the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre’s commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. This included the lighting of candles by local Holocaust survivors as well as the presentation of the status of Righteous Among the Nations to late Dutch heroine Rinske van den Brink, who risked her life to save Jewish children.
After a rousing rendition of the Partisan song (played over a montage of photos taken at previous Yom Hashoah ceremonies held locally), a solemn recording of the memorial prayer Kel Maleh Rachamim replaced the kaddish prayer which would ordinarily have been recited.
The ceremony closed with a special performance of Ani Ma’amin (I Believe) which featured recordings made by Jewish youth across South Africa played simultaneously to create a choral rendition of the song.
This year’s Yom Hashoah is sure to be remembered for years to come.