International Holocaust Remembrance Day in the Jewries of Russia
Over 25 Jewries in Russia gave response to the proposal the Russian Jewish Congress (RJC) President Y. I. Kanner to hold memorial events to mark the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. From 24 till 31 January memorial meetings took places in Bryansk, Velikiy Novgorod, Vladikavkaz, Vladimir, Volgograd, Voronezh, Ivanovo, Kazan, Kaliningrad, Kaluga, Krasnodar, Nizhny Novgorod, Penza, Perm, Pskov, Ryazan, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, St. Petersburg, Saratov, Smolensk, Stavropol, Tambov, Ulyanovsk, Tula.
It’s scope was different: at the regional and municipal level with government representatives and education authorities taking part(Kaluga, Bryansk, Ivanovo), hosted by local museums and libraries (Krasnodar and Rostov-on-Don), synagogues (Nizhny Novgorod), community centers and Hesed, Jewish schools (Samara, St. Petersburg), with involvement of teachers and students of non-Jewish schools (Nizhny Novgorod, Tambov, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar) and media (Kaluga, Pskov, Nizhny Novgorod), demonstration of new museum expositions (Veliky Novgorod, Nizhny Novgorod, Ivanovo), or chamber evenings where the word was taken by former ghetto prisoners, partisans, members of families of Righteous Gentiles (Vladimir, Vladikavkaz).
It is remarkable that in the course of many events the question of the effective work of the Holocaust remembrance was discussed: installation of monuments, researching the names of killed and Righteous Among the Nations, participation in the competition for students and teachers, visits to places of the Holocaust. At many events not only the victims of the Holocaust were remembered, but also the liberators who opened the gates of concentration camps and ghettos, therefore stopping the destruction of the Jews in Transnistria, as well as the Righteous Among the Nations, were remembered.
***
Kaluga. The Russia Jewish Congress (RJC) and the Jewry of Kaluga established a memorial meeting dedicated to the International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, 2010 in the town's House of Music. It was Kaluga where the first European ghetto liberated by the Red Army on Dec. 30, 1941 was.
The speakers on the evening included President of the RJC Y. Kanner, representatives from city and regional administration, the Embassy of Israel in the Russian Federation and non-governmental organizations.
Children from the Jewish weekend school read poems about the war and gave flowers to the elderly. Performances by N. Boltyanskaya and of the Kaluga municipal orchestra and flag ceremony of a military unit, which liberated the city and the ghetto, made such atmosphere that people wept openly. ***
Ivanovo. 80 people gathered on 24 January at the Jewry House. Sounds of a metronome accompanied them honoring the memory of the Jews killed during World War II. The oldest member of the Jewry Moisey Davidovich Potash read Kaddish. The evening was soulfully lead by community head Margaret Shnir. Addresses of the Jewry members rotated with the speeches of weekend school students and the youth club members. F. P. Sapozhnikova read excerpts from her book "The Holocaust and anti-Semitism", Ian Brustein read his poems. E. Kirstein made an address on the connections of the Holocaust and the fate of today's Israel. The guests laid flowers and stones at the monument to "Our brothers burned in the fire of the twentieth century". All the day of 27 January candles were burning and flowers and stones were laid at the memorial.
The State Scientific Library held a public meeting dedicated to the memory of the Holocaust victims on 27 January. The library director E. Kashaev lit the memorial fire. The word was taken City Duma Speaker Vladimir Sverchkov and Regional Duma deputy from the LDPR Vladimir Sirotkin. The community house held an exhibition of children's drawings and a great book exhibition which the students of city schools had been exploring for a week.
Bryansk. On 27 January the Central city cemetery held a municipal memorial event near the monument to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust in the Bryansk Region. The event was attended by representatives of regional and municipal authorities, students and teachers, leaders and activists of Jewish and other non-governmental organizations. The meeting listed about 100 people.
Six memorial candles were lit; Chief Rabbi of Bryansk region M. Zaklas read the Kaddish. Special exhibition stands dedicated to 65th anniversary of Auschwitz liberation by Red Army were demonstrated.
The crucial point of the speeches of Deputy Governor A. Makarov, deputy Head of Bryansk Administration V. Bezdudnyi, chairman of the Jewry L. Linkov, chairman of the Council of Veterans Hesed M. Braverman was the call upon to remember the lessons of history and prevent further ethnic strife and genocide.
The issue of appeal was the result of the meeting.
Days before the event director of BCJOBC “Hesed Tikva” I. Chernyak met Governor of the Bryansk region N. V. Denin. Bryansk Governor admitted the great contribution of the Jewry in perpetuating the memory of Nazi victims in the territory of Bryansk. The agenda of the meeting included discussion of the continuation of joint activities to perpetuate the memory of the Jews - the victims of the Holocaust. Governor has expressed interest in continuing cooperation with the RJC within the project “Restore the dignity”.
***
Krasnodar. Three of the meetings in memory of the Holocaust victims were held in Krasnodar on January 27: the Union of underage fascist concentration camps prisoners established the meeting in the Hall of Officers, Council of the Great Patriotic War veterans in the Hall of Scientists and Engineers and the Jewish social organizations joint with E. D. Felicin State museum of history and archeology.
Guests of the museum listed history teachers from secondary schools, students of senior courses from the State University, activists of “Memorial” society, members of the Jewry, representatives from city and regional administration and veterans of WWII. Memorial candles were lit at the entrance to the museum. Mounts inside the lobby featured two expositions: “Inside the line of fire” about the Jews during WWII and “The Holocaust”. Slideshow about concentration camps and ghettoes on screen in the hall was accompanied by quiet music.
The event was opened by the Museum director general History Associate Professor A. G. Eremenko, who made a speech with a plotline of “there is no genocide against one nation, but genocide is always against humanity, so prevention of it’s renewal is everyone’s mission”.
Krasnodar Jewry chairman Y. I. Tkach greeted the guests of the meeting and said commemoration prayer for all who perished in war against fascism and from hands of terrorists.
Leader of the Russian Jewish Congress regional department Y. M. Teitelbaum made a report about the Jews’ contribution to victory in the Great Patriotic War. History teacher from Ust’-Labinskaya school #5 I. V. Svetlichnaya held a workshop on the Holocaust history studying in secondary schools technique “Lessons of the Holocaust – the way to tolerance”.
Retired colonel armor crewman, Victory Parade of 24.06.1945 standard bearer, Nikolay Zakharovich Alexandrov shared his memories about the campaign of his armored company to the Baltic Sea to blockade Nazi formation, liberate Salaspils concentration camp where over 3000 undernutritioned girls doomed to death were kept as blood donors for German hospitals. He spoke about international crew of his battle tank, where the Jew Isaak Zagalchik was the driver, an Armenian was aimer, a Latvian was the radio-gunner and a Ukrainian was the loader. He remembered of his pat-war meetings with Zagalchik who settled in Minsk and with his combat leader, legendary tankman Hero of the Soviet Union Semen Davidovich Kremer – his Jewish comrades. He called upon everyone to keep and protect the blood-tightened friendship of all the citizens of our country and prevent all acts of anti-Semitism and Nazism.
***
Veliky Novgorod. On 27 January 2010 Novgorod Jewish cultural society has hosted a literature and musical reception. It was held in the library and the museum and was dedicated to the International Holocaust Remembrance Day and lifting of the Siege of Leningrad.
The event started with lighting the memorial Candle followed by Boris Slutskiy verse: “… And there am I, standing before these hushed witnesses, And quietly repeating: “burnt”…”
The guests were introduced to two museum exhibitions and book fair dedicated to the date. “The Holocaust” fund presented the new book – “The Holocaust in USSR encyclopedia”.
The final part of the meeting included “La vita e bella” film demonstration.
***
Ryazan. On January 27 Ryazan Jewry Center held an evening dedicated to the International Holocaust Remembrance Day organized by the community chairman Ludmila Zakharova. The film "Kiselev’s List” was demonstrated to the guests.
***
Tambov. On January 27 Tambov Jewry Center held an evening dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp. The regional representative of “The Holocaust” center teacher Galina Vasilyeva who had been studying the Holocaust with students from Tambov for many years made unforgettable impression on the guests with her speech about the trip of the Russian delegation to Auschwitz-Birkenau. The guests of the Jewry Center included well-known journalist, member of the Public Chamber of the Tambov region, Konstantin Denisov.
The participants were speaking of the events of the, the lost world of the Jewish places, about the terrible tragedy that took over the entire nation and every Jew. They also talked about the sources of the Holocaust, its accomplices and accessories.
The evening announcers Galina and Anya Mechkovsky, supporting their speech with visuals and an Yiddish melody, were able to convey to the audience a piece of the horror of the Holocaust, 6 Candles were lit in memory of six million Jewish lives shattered. Everyone could light a candle in memory of their relatives. The candles lit up the hall of the Jewry center. Chairman of the Jewry Arkady Farba read the Kaddish for all who died in the flames of the Shoah. ***
Pskov. January 27 the halls of the Pskov Regional Jewish charity center "Hesed Yitzhak" held a memorial event on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. It was attended by the representative of the RJC in Pskov, Pskov Jewry, as well as Armenian and Finnish diaspora. There were speeches of Holocaust victims and participants of the Second World War. A special musical and poetic composition was demonstrated. The event was widely covered in local media.
***
Vladikavkaz. January 27, 2010 the Jewry of Vladikavkaz hosted evening Holocaust memorial, dedicated to the Red Army's liberation of death camp "Auschwitz". The guests included more than 70 people. The speeches were made by the Jewry chairman M. B. Petrushanskiy, former Belarusian partisan Mikhail Rubinson, whose entire family perished in Belarus, and Liadova S. Sh. whose mother and her three young brothers were saved by Belarusian woman Babak Maria, who posthumously in 2009 was awarded the title Righteous Among the Nations. In conclusion of the evening a memorial prayer for the victims of the Holocaust was read and memorial candles were lit in the synagogue.
***
Vladimir. January 27 the Jewry Center of Vladimir held an evening marking the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The guests included former prisoners of the Riga Ghetto Persij Gurvich and Esel Dlins, participants WWII, members of the community. The event was widely supported by members of the Vladimir department of the RJC.
***
Nizhny Novgorod. On January 31, 2010 in Nizhny Novgorod the Jewry commemorated the victims of the Holocaust. The meeting was established by charity fund "Jewish Center Hesed Sarah" together with the Jewish religious community of Nizhny Novgorod and Nizhny Novgorod Jewish national-cultural autonomy. The event took place in the conference hall of the restored synagogue of Nizhny Novgorod. The meeting brought together members of the Jewish community that included former prisoners of the ghetto, the participants of war, refugees and youth. The guests were teachers of city schools and students of the Faculty of International Relations from N. Lobachevsky NNSU. The word was taken by the chairman of the Jewry of Nizhny Novgorod Eduard Chaprak, head of cultural programs of charity CF JC "Hesed Sarah" Tamara Beagon. 6 candles were lit in memory of 6 million victims; Chief Rabbi of Nizhny Novgorod region Shimon Bergman read Kaddish.
Librarian Svetlana Katsnelson presented a new exhibition of photographies. The program
“Museum of the Jewish community” and the project “Memory of names” manager in CF JC "Hesed Sarah" Elena Derechinskaya described the objectives of the project “Memory of names”, which is maintained jointly with the Museum Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and SPC "Holocaust" in Moscow. In the course of the project nearly1500 residents of Nizhny Novgorod and Dzerzhinsk were interviewed, more than 500 pages of testimony with the names of Jews killed in the occupation, evacuation, and at the front were collected. Now over 130 towns and cities where our loved ones were killed are named. There are memoirs and correspondence. All incoming information is processed, systematized and subsequently and prepared to publishing. The results of this work are presented in an improvised "Memorial Wall". The mount bearing map with marked towns in the occupied territory, where our relatives were killed, the lists of the dead and their photoes, the few pictures that are carefully kept in the family.
Participants of the International competition of schoolchildren, students and teachers of the “Memory of the Holocaust - the way to tolerance” from Nizhny Novgorod were awarded with diplomas. It was handed by Elena Derechinskaya and Mary Sherman. The guests showed great interest in the story of Lisa Yakimova about the memorial evening held on January 27 at the Moscow Writers' Club and the song “In memory of the dead children” to the music by L. Kozlovsky performed by soloists trio “Feygeleh” Masha Farfel and Ksenia Tsiprovskoy for which they also received a diploma of international competition.
NJNCA President Susanna Turaeva introduced the audience to the book "Golden windows" - a collection of stories about the Holocaust by two Polish-Jewish writers, Stanislaw Vygodsky and Adolf Rudnitsky. Alexander Pasha, who was born in Janowo, Pinsk region (after 1939 – Brest region) in 1926, described the conditions of life in the ghetto, escape and participation in a partisan war against the fascists.Those who miraculously managed to avoid the occupation shared their memories of the difficult wartime childhood...
Secondary school #24 director Elena Moiseeva called upon all the guests to invite as much young people as possible to such meetings: “Let your children and grandchildren come here!”
In conclusion, Michael Belotserkovsky spoke about the project “March of Life” and made a presentation of the CD “Memory - the duty of living”, made by the youth club after taking part in this march in 2005. The CD presents information on the history of Polish Jews, the Holocaust and keeping the memory. Plot of the event was shown on regional TV channel “Vesti-Russia” (the material was provided by last year’s winner of the Holocaust works contest, now a TV reporter, Bella Hayzens).
***
Kaliningrad region. Memorial events are traditionally timed to the anniversary of the death March. On 31 January 2010 the inhabitants of the Kaliningrad region gathered at a memorial meeting at the Commemorative Stone (where a monument to the victims will be installed) in Yantarny on 65th anniversary of the death march - the last act of the Holocaust in history. It was attended by residents of Kaliningrad and other cities in the region, the representative of the Government of KR, the head of the Administration of Yantarny, Consul Generals of Poland and Germany, representatives of local and foreign media and public organizations of the region.
***
Samara. January 27 the Jewish department of the school #42 held the event on the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The meeting was attended by veterans of the WWII, former prisoners of ghetto, the city administration, 2 local television channels, Samara Jewish National Center.
***
St. Petersburg. January 27, 2010 the school NJOS held an event for pupils of 7-11 forms on the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Workshops were performed by history teacher BV Slivkin and psychologist D. J. Feinerman.
Lesson was built according to plan reflecting the general course of the museum Yad Vashem. In the course of the conversation with children the main emphasis was placed on the methods of the Jews of Germany had been withdrawn beyond the society. Campaign posters of Nazi Germany and the Nuremberg Laws were shown and discussed. The sequence between the process of dehumanization of the Jewish population and its subsequent destruction was also discussed.
A special part of the class was dedicated to Auschwitz. A video footage from Yad Vashem website was demonstrated. This was the story of Joan Farbshtein. She spoke about how a child got into the camp and how she managed to stay alive.
The meeting ended with the conversation about the Righteous Among the Nations and presentation of the film “Survived to win”.
 |
|
