MAHONING COUNTY Programs remember victims of Holocaust

The theme for this year focuses on the fate of children.
YOUNGSTOWN -- A variety of Holocaust commemoration programs is planned for this year's Yom Hashoah, or Holocaust Remembrance.
The Jewish Community Relations Council's annual Shoah Memorial Ceremony will be at 3 p.m. April 18 at the Jewish Community Center, Gypsy Lane, and its 11th Annual Community Holocaust Commemoration will be at noon April 20 in the rotunda of the Mahoning County Courthouse.
This year's theme is "Life in Shadows: Hidden Children and the Holocaust," in conjunction with a special exhibition at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
The programs will examine the lessons of the Holocaust, with an emphasis on the fate of children. Thousands of children survived because they were hidden or sent to safety. In remembering those who took a stand against the Nazis, the events serve as a reminder that the moral conscience of the individual is one of the greatest weapons against indifference and evil, the council said.
Performances of vignettes
The ceremony at the JCC will feature a performance by the Youngstown Area Holocaust Impact Theater, consisting of high school members of the B'nai B'rith Youth Organization of the Mahoning and Shenango Valleys. The troupe will perform original vignettes on Holocaust-related issues. There will also be a series of Holocaust-inspired readings; historical perspective by Dr. Saul Friedman, a professor of history at Youngstown State University; and a candle-lighting ceremony led by survivors and children of survivors.
The commemoration at the courthouse will recognize the winners of the council's annual student Holocaust writing contest, and recognize a group of teachers and students from Howland High School for outstanding achievement in Holocaust education. The program will close with a candle-lighting ceremony to honor the 6 million who died in the Holocaust.
Task force
Rabbi Joseph Schonberger of Temple El Emeth, a child of Holocaust survivors, is chairman of the Holocaust Commemoration and Education Task Force, a committee of the Jewish Community Relations Council. The task force also includes survivors, other children of survivors, and others from the Shenango and Mahoning valleys.
Temple El Emeth will sponsor a program at 7:30 p.m. April 28 with Gustav Goldberger of Silver Spring, Md., who will describe how he and his family escaped from Denmark after it was invaded by Nazis during World War II. Almost every Dane took part in a concerted evacuation effort that saved almost all of Denmark's 8,000 Jews.
The event is open to the Jewish community and schools studying the Holocaust.