Youngstown balloon release recalls 6M Jews, 5M others killed in Nazi Holocaust
YOUNGSTOWN
Julie Clark, a fifth-grade teacher at Williamson Elementary School, tears up as she talks to her students about the Holocaust.
“I just want all of us to be kind to one another,” Clark said.
Elior and Eran Liss from the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation spoke to Clark’s class Thursday as part of the observance of Holocaust Remembrance Day, also known as Yom Hashoah. Each of the Lisses had a grandparent who survived the tragedy.
Holocaust Remembrance Day, begun in 1953, honors the 6 million Jews and 5 million others killed by the Nazis leading up to and throughout World War II.
Release of white and yellow balloons, symbolizing remembrance and peace, respectively, followed the discussion.
Elior explained that in Israel, sirens sound each Remembrance Day, signaling the start of two minutes of silence to remember the dead and honor the survivors.
They showed the students a video of a busy highway in Israel where, at the siren’s blare, cars stopped and people got out to observe the solemn occasion.
Clark led the students in two minutes of silence before the balloon release.
Of the 6 million Jews who were killed, 1.5 million were children, from infants to 15 years, Eran said.
In Clark’s class, students learned about some of those children.
Read more about the observance in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.