5 Ways to Observe Holocaust Remembrance Day

As International Holocaust Remembrance Day approaches on Sunday, January 27th, a look at a recent survey by the Claims Conference shows how imperative this day of remembrance is for our country. The survey found that 66% of U.S. millennials and 41% of adults cannot identify what Auschwitz was, while 22% of millennials and 11% of adults "said they had not heard of, or were unsure if they had heard of the Holocaust." The number of Holocaust survivors are dwindling and anti-semitism is on the rise. What will the world be like when the survivors are gone? It’s our responsibility to carry their stories into the future so that the Holocaust won’t be forgotten, because as these frightening statistics show, it’s already happening.

Here are 5 ways you can observe Holocaust Remembrance Day.

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 IRemember Wall 

By joining the IRemember Wall, your name will be randomly linked to the name of a Holocaust victim from Yad Vashem's Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names and will appear together on the IRemember Wall.

YAD VASHEM "ASK A SURVIVOR"
Sunday, January 27th

During this special online event, you have the opportunity to ask four Holocaust survivors a question which they will answer in the live video. I was so pleasantly surprised when I saw that one of the survivors taking part in this event is Yehudith Kleinman who I met in Israel last summer! Check out the post HERE to read the survivor's bios and submit your questions.

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WHO WILL WRITE OUR HISTORY

Sunday, January 27th | List of 1/27/19 Screenings

This brand new film tells the true story of the hidden archives of the Warsaw Ghetto, and the power of words as a form of resistance. Led by historian Emanuel Ringelblum and known by the code name Oyneg Shabes, a clandestine group of journalists, scholars, and community leaders in the Warsaw Ghetto vowed to defeat Nazi lies and propaganda not with guns or fists but with pen and paper. Now, for the first time, their story is told in the documentary featuring the voices of three-time Academy Award nominee Joan Allen and Academy Award winner Adrien Brody. The film is produced and directed by Roberta Grossman and executive produced by Nancy Spielberg.

On Holocaust Remembrance Day—Sunday, January 27th—movie theaters, churches, mosques, synagogues, universities, museums and community centers across the world will screen Who Will Write Our History. Check their website to see if a screening is coming to your city. If you're in WNY or Northern PA, the Eldred WWII Museum will be screening the film!

WE REMEMBER CAMPAIGN 

You can participate in the world’s largest Holocaust remembrance event. Take a photo of yourself holding a "We Remember” sign and upload your photo to Facebook, Instagram and/or Twitter, using the hashtag #WeRemember. Or, email your photo to weremember@wjc.org. The campaign will launch on Sunday, January 6th, and will culminate with a live streaming of your photos from Auschwitz-Birkenau between January 24– 27th.

READ OR WATCH A SURVIVOR'S TESTIMONY 

Elie Wisel said, "When you listen to a witness, you become a witness." Watching or reading a survivor's testimony would be a powerful way to obverse Holocaust Remembrance Day and honor survivors. Yad Vashem and the Holocaust Memorial Museum have videos and written testimonies of survivors. You could also read a survivor's memoir/biography. A few suggestions:

Memories in Focus,  Rena's Promise: A Story of Sisters in Auschwitz,  All But My Life: A Memoir, and Isabella: from Auschwitz to Freedom

Let me know in the comments what you plan to do to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day.

-Emily