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Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia commemorates Holocaust Memorial Day
The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia held an event Sunday to commemorate the six million Jews who died at the hands of the Nazis. FOX 29’s Greg Payne shows us why attendees say this event this year feels even more important than ever.
PHILADELPHIA - The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia hosted their 60th annual Philadelphia Holocaust Remembrance ceremony.
Voices filled the Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel synagogue in Center City, as members of the community remembered those who lost their lives during the Holocaust.
"It’s community healing for us. As Jewish people, a lot of our identity is tied up in the fact that we had 6 million people killed. There’s only 14 million Jews in the world and 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust and if we don’t come together to remember them, we are worried people are going to forget," said Michael Markman, Board Chair, of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.
Yetta Erlich uses the day to remember her now deceased husband, who was a Holocaust survivor.
"I’m happy to be a representative of his life there," said Erlich.
The day and the event is also to recognize survivors as well.
"A whole family of mine went to Auschwitz," said Holocaust survivor Brand Spiegel.
Spiegel was three years old living in Siberia during the Holocaust, so this day is special.
"It means a lot that I can meet other people in the same situation that I am in," said Spiegel.
During the ceremony, speakers recognize not only the past but the present.
"Albeit many may think this was a long time ago yet here we are in America where it’s almost seeming as though history is repeating itself," said a speaker at the podium.
Just two miles away from the Philadelphia Synagogue, an encampment has been sitting on the UPenn Campus for 11 days in support of Palestinians.
The protestors told FOX 29 in the past their main objective.
"Our demands are the same as they were on the first day, is to disclose the endowment of the university, to divest from the Israeli Apartheid state and to defend the voices of Pro-Palestinian students on campus," said one of the organizers.
Back at the synagogue, attendees say the war overseas and the current climate in the U.S. make this year's Holocaust Remembrance that much more important.
"Right now, what’s going on in Israel it hurts, it hurts," said Spiegel.
Marktanteil said, "It just reminds us that this could happen again and it makes this day that much more important this year because we can not let it happen again".