Community residents joined Town officials on April 21 at Yorktown Town Hall for the annual Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony. Councilman Ed Lachterman began the commemoration by noting that current world events underscore the dangers of apathy towards injustice in far-off lands.
“Today we can add the Ukraine to this list. The atrocities that are happening there have actually been compared to the methods and modus operandi of the Germans under the Nazi party,” said Lachterman, whose paternal grandparents emigrated from Ukraine after deadly anti-Jewish pogroms from 1903 to 1906. “We are here to let our voices be heard—that crimes against our fellow man are not acceptable and that we will never stand still for these actions in our society.”
Rabbi Robert Weiner of Temple Beth Am cited Elie Wiesel in his remarks. “Wiesel was teaching us that the Holocaust demands that we not remain indifferent to the suffering of people of color, of the LGBTQ-plus community, of the trans community. We must not be silent to our Asian brothers and sisters, our Jewish brothers and sisters and our Muslim brothers and sisters. We must remain vigilant and steadfast for all those struggling within our borders and around the world,” said Weiner.
Holocaust survivor Esther Geizhals was the event’s keynote speaker. Geizhals was 10 years old in Lodz, Poland when German invaded her country and a year later, she and her family were forced to live in a ghetto. After giving her account of survival and emigration to the United States, she remembered her late-husband’s words that led her to speak about her experience.
“If we want people to remember the Holocaust, we have to start with students,” said Geizhals, who has shared her experiences with children and students for the past 20 years.
Supervisor Matt Slater told attendees that when he brought his son Charlie to the event, Geizhals told him her story was too sad for such a young child. “I think that it is important for Charlie…for all the children of our community and the world to understand what you endured. My hope and my belief is that by teaching them and having them hear these stories they’ll know what not to do. They’ll know the importance of humanity, the importance of love,” said Supervisor Slater.
