Remembering victims of the Holocaust

This past Monday, April 28, was Yom HaShoah, the day of remembrance of victims of the Holocaust. Jews and others in the world remember the Holocaust and the loss of the 6 million Jews who were murdered by the Nazis and the millions of other victims, including Poles, Ukrainians, Russians, Slavs, Roma, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the mentally and physically disabled and political dissidents. It begins at sunset on the 27th of the Hebrew month of Nisan – a week after the seventh day of Passover and during the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
The term “Holocaust,” originally from the Greek word “holokauston” which means “sacrifice by fire,” is also referred to by the Hebrew word “Shoah,” which means “devastation, ruin or waste.”
On Sunday Pope Francis canonized Pope John Paul II a saint of the church along with Pope John XXIII. Pope John Paul II once said in reference to remembering the Holocaust, “We wish to remember. But we wish to remember for a purpose, namely to ensure that never again will evil prevail. The world must heed the warning that comes from the victims of the Holocaust and from the testimony of the survivors.”
With World War II ending almost 70 years ago there are fewer than 500,000 Holocaust survivors worldwide living today. According to Dr. Paul Winkler, executive director of the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education, over the past few years the number of survivors in our state have decreased from 5,000 to below 2,000.
Speaking to these demographics on the number of survivors today, Dr. Jonathan Sarna, professor of American Jewish history at Brandeis University, says, “As I tell my students, they are the last generation that will be able to say they personally knew individuals who experienced the Shoah.”
As scholars and educators consider a future without survivors, some focus on preserving the literal memory of the Holocaust as both a sacred obligation to the victims and an educational tool for ensuring “never again.”
For Jewish educators and museum professionals, the focus remains on survivor testimony. Diane Saltzman, director of survivor affairs at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, suggests that the survivors remain the best teachers, since they are eye-witnesses. “While we are fortunate to still have them, we are trying to document from them as much as possible about their experiences,” she says. “What they provide is something no one else can provide.”
Here in New Jersey, Dr. Paul Winkler has been working to ensure that as many students as possible get to meet and hear the testimony of one of the survivors. He has also provided training for teachers through various workshops throughout the state.
Acknowledging the need for Yom HaShoah rituals and commemorations, Dr. Winkler adds that education is the real key to Holocaust remembrance. He says, “If we don’t have teachers educate students on an ongoing basis on the evils of bias, prejudice, bigotry, holocaust and genocide, we won’t succeed.”

Father Joseph D. Wallace is coordinator, Ecumenical and Inter-religious Affairs, Diocese of Camden.