Holocaust memorial service echoes the past into the present, future
Joel Brewton | Herald-Standard
Rabbi Sion David lights a collection of six candles in memory of the victims of the Holocaust Sunday at the Uniontown Jewish Community Center.
Joel Brewton | Herald-Standard
Elaine Malyn of Uniontown reads a few names of the victims of the Holocaust Sunday at the Uniontown Jewish Community Center.
Robert Korach, 12, of Czechslovakia, died in 1944 at the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Sima Khurin, 6, and her one-year-old sister Polia Khurin of Ukraine died in 1942 at a concentration camp in Donetsk, a city in the Ukraine.
These names are but a small fraction of those that were read aloud during a somber memorial service Sunday for those killed in the Holocaust. More than six million Jews were victims of the Nazi regime — many of them children.
“It’s interesting to hear the names of all the young children who died. You don’t realize how many young ones died,” said Elsie Mellema of Chalk Hill, who attended the annual memorial service at the Uniontown Jewish Community Center with her 15-year-old daughter Chantel.
Chantel said she took away from the service, “that life can pass away very easily when you are young. It’s sad to see such young people were taken. So I’m here today to remember their lives and what happened.”
During the service, Rabbi Sion David lit six candles as symbols in remembrance of those lives lost during the Holocaust. The first candle was lit in memory of infants, children and teenagers who were cut down before their time. The second was for others who died with children in their arms. The third candle was for mothers and fathers who were separated from their families. The fourth was for scholars, teachers and rabbis who lost their lives. The fifth candle was in memory of the heroes of the resistance — the few who fought the many. The sixth was lit in memory of the martyrs who died for their brothers and sisters.
“The Holocaust is something that defies understanding, but we had six million Jews and a few million others who were killed by the Nazis,” David said.
Liusia Gusak, 6, and her brother Edik, 2, of Ukraine died in atrocities that took place in 1941 at Babi Yar, Ukraine. Tens of thousands of Jews among others were killed in what many consider the single largest mass killing in the history of the Holocaust.
Ester Reznik, 8, and her brothers Ezra, 6, and Yankl, 4, all of Ukraine, were killed in Ovruch, Ukraine.
“By reciting the names, we remember each victim was an individual, a son, daughter, sister, brother, child or parent that had hopes and dreams,” David said.
Milt Kronick, president of B’nai B’rith Fayette Lodge 471, said the purpose of the decades old memorial service is to remind people how the lessons learned in the past should echo into the future.
“If you don’t pay attention to history, you make the same mistakes,” he said. “Our objective with this service is to serve as a reminder of those memories to prevent people from doing things that are wrong in our present.”