Yom HaShoa programs slated for city, suburbs and region
Yom Hashoa: Holocaust Remembrance Day programs are planned across the tristate area for the week of April 11.
In Pittsburgh, the Holocaust Center of the United Jewish Federation will present its annual program Monday, April 12, at 7 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill. This year, the theme of the program is “Partisans Resistance” and the keynote speaker will be Mitch Braff of the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation.
In the South Hills, the South Hills Interfaith Ministries will present this year’s Interfaith Holocaust Observance Service at a later date — Sunday, April 25, 7:30 p.m., at Beth El Congregation of the South Hills. The theme is “Rescue: Stories of Uncommon Courage.” The service will honor stories of survivors with ties to Pittsburgh. Dramatic vignettes, readings, music and candle lighting will form the service.
In Greensburg, the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education at Seton Hill University will hold its annual Westmoreland County Yom HaShoa Interfaith Service at Beth Israel Congregation in Latrobe Sunday, April 11, at 7:30 p.m.
Mimi Finnerty, who as an Army nurse, helped care for survivors at Mautausen near Linz, Austria, will be the featured speaker. Also, Christ the Devine Teacher School from Latrobe will create a presentation honoring the late Bob Mendler. Beth Israel Congregagtion, Congregation Emanu-El Israel in Greensburg, the United Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh and B’nai B’rith Warren Roy Laufe Unit #903 are among the sponsors.
In West Virginia, the West Virginia University Hillel will again hold its Unto Every Person There is a Name program — a 24-hour reading of names of Holocaust victims, punctuated by an hourly recitation of the Kaddish — from Tuesday, April 13, noon, to Wednesday, April 14, at noon. Call (304) 349-6000 to volunteer to read.
A Yom HaShoa program is slated for Mountain State University in Beckley Sunday April 11, which is sponsored by Temple Beth El of Beckley.
The ceremony will be highlighted with the annual ringing of the Lewin Bell Tower. The late Max Lewin of Beckley paid for its construction to remember his family members killed in the Holocaust. Another survivor, Daniel Kereth of nearby Bluefield, will recount his experiences.
In Wheeling, a remembrance service will be held at Temple Shalom, Sunday, April 11, at 7 p.m. followed by the screening of the film “No. 4 Street of Our Lady,” which tells the little-known, story of Francisca Halamajowa, a Polish-Catholic woman who rescued 16 of her Jewish neighbors during the Holocaust, while passing herself off as a Nazi sympathizer.
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