First approved by the United Nations as a day of remembrance in 2005, today is the 20th observance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, marking over two decades of international efforts to never forget, and never repeat the Holocaust.
At John Carroll University, half a dozen courses related to the Holocaust or Shoah in Hebrew. Matthew Berg, who holds a doctorate in history, teaches three of these courses in the History department and is preparing to take a dozen faculty and students to Germany’s capital over spring break to learn about Germany’s history, with a special reverence for the Holocaust.
He described students visiting Berlin’s Jewish neighborhoods while looking at the individual experiences of populations including the Jews that were subjected to the Concentration camp system. Berg especially noted “Students will visit the Topography of Terror site on the grounds of the former Gestapo and Security Police headquarters and the Sachsenhausen concentration camp” as well as to tour the “Monument to the Murdered Jews of Europe” site in Berlin.
This hands-on opportunity is open to all students interested in learning about the Holocaust every other year.
Though JCU does its part to remember this tragedy, the wider Cleveland community has its perspective on remembrance and invites Clevelanders of all backgrounds to participate.
The Maltz Museum hosted numerous member exclusive events this past weekend and in the week to follow this it will have many events open to the public. Yesterday, the museum observed the 10th Annual Holocaust Remembrance Day for Friends of the Maltz Museum. Jeffery Kaplan president of the Friends of the Maltz, Museum, described the purpose of yesterday’s events as “remembering those millions who were killed, as well as celebrating those survivors who go out to speak, especially to students.”
This event featured a showing of the film The Heavens are Empty, which follows a man’s path towards survival and to find his family after the 1941 Trochenbrod Massacre, and the exhibition of the tapestries of Katya Oicherman, Ph.D, who works to create embroidered art of the Holocaust, preserving images of loss that can be shown today, tomorrow, and forever.
This week, those looking to remember the Holocaust can visit the Maltz Museum and view their standing exhibits, which include “In Hitler’s Crosshairs” which follows Jewish artists during the Holocaust, and speak with the Artificial Intelligence of Stanley Bernath, a Jewish Holocaust Survivor, who before his passing donated 20 hours of spoken history to the museum to compile his experience during the Holocaust.
Other Jewish Temples, including the Congregation of Mishkan Or, on Fairmount Rd. and B’nai Jeshurun Congregation in Pepper Pike will be open with public events to remember the Holocaust. Mishkan Or exhibits the Oicherman Tapestries regularly, and the week of Jan. 27, they can be seen there. At the B’nai Jeshurun Congregation, starting at 7 p.m. will be the “Why does the World still hate us” event, where the public will get to learn about and discuss ways to prevent holocaust denial and anti-Semitic talking points in the modern day.
With many opportunities to remember the Holocaust, these organizations, from University Heights to Beachwood, Pepper Pike and more, see many Heights residents doing their part to remember those who were lost, and see they are remembered today and every other day.
