Thousands gather so Holocaust not forgotten

Nearly 2,000 people gathered Sunday in downtown Philadelphia in solemn remembrance of the estimated six million Jews who perished during the Holocaust.

Survivors of the tragedy during World War II were also celebrated as part of a ceremony that has become an annual event along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 16th Street, site of the Monument to the Six Million Jewish Martyrs.

Young people, many wearing T-shirts with the word "remember" written in English and Hebrew, deposited white roses in overflowing baskets on a stage in front of the monument as names and countries of a sampling of victims from all over Europe were read aloud.

Wreaths were laid at the foot of the monument.

"Our presence here today . . . tells greater Philadelphia and the entire nation that we remember the horrors of the Shoah," said Leonard Barrack, using the Hebrew term for Holocaust. Barrack is chairman of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.

Barrack asked the audience to consider "the fragility of life - how quickly and senselessly millions of beautiful lives can be ended." And he hailed the "strength of the Jewish people" who have "not only survived but flourished."

Sunday's ceremony had a note of urgency. Sixty-six years after the end of World War II, about 350 Holocaust survivors remain in the Philadelphia area, event organizers said. That makes it all the more important that the Jewish community redouble its efforts to make sure younger people learn well the history and lessons of the past, organizers of the event urged.

"What will we do when we can no longer hear directly from the survivors?" said Sarita Gocial, chairperson of the event's planning committee. "The responsibility of carrying on their legacy falls on each of us. It is not enough to relegate the history of the Holocaust to textbooks or films. . . . To continue the fight against ignorance and bigotry, all Jews must join in this effort, especially the youth, who represent the future."

Among the young people heeding that call Sunday was Madelyn Schaeffer, an eighth grader at Bala Cynwyd Middle School, who said she has attended the remembrance ceremony other years as well.

"It's really sad," she said, adding that the ceremony is an important lesson, too. "I learn about these things in school, but it's not the same as experiencing it from people who have been there - who are closer to it."

Sylvia Perel Wagman, whose parents were both Holocaust survivors and whose mother, Manya Perel, 86, was on stage at the ceremony Sunday, said she was happy to see the turnout.

"It's rewarding to see this," Wagman said. "It's important that as the generation of survivors becomes fewer and fewer, the second generation, third generation, and all people, carry on the memory, in order that this should not happen again to Jewish people or any people."