Westmoreland Interfaith Service and Program Brings Together Community Members to Remember the Holocaust

Members of the interfaith community gathered together on Sunday, April 15th for Westmoreland County?s 18th Annual Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance) service at Congregation Emanu-El Israel in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

As part of the observance, participants read prayers, poems and excerpts from various sources including Elie Weisel's book, Night, as well as Pope John Paul II's statement from his pilgrimage to Auschwitz about the role that memory plays in shaping our past, present and future.

"The story of the Holocaust in not just the story of one group of people, it is a human history" said Cherie Dell, intern with Seton Hill University's National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education (NCCHE). "I was reminded as we were asking for forgiveness for the sins of past that we all share a responsibility for what happened, and that we are also responsible for making sure it never happens again."

During the service, participants lighted seven candles: six to honor the six million Jews who were murdered and one for liberators.

Before each candle was lit, stanzas from Israeli Poet Zelda's Unto Every Person There is a Name poem were read. Afterwards members of the congregation stood to read aloud names and ages of individuals who had perished in the Holocaust. "It's important to remember individuals," stated Wilda Kaylor, NCCHE associate director.

To further personalize the observance, Blessed Sacrament Cathedral, located next door to Congregation Emanu-El Israel, hosted a screening of the film, "Perla: The Last of the Seven Dwarfs," with special guest speaker Debbie Bruckman, the film's director.

This film tells the story of Holocaust survivor, Perla Ovitz. Perla was a member of the Troupa Lilliput, a family of Romanian dwarfs who were traveling entertainers until 1944, when they were captured and sent to Auschwitz. There they were subjected to experiments at hands of Dr. Mengele, but they were also one of only two families to survive and remain intact throughout the Holocaust.

Bruckman said that she wanted to make this film "a story about a person's life," and that even though the Holocaust was a defining moment for Perla, it was one of many.

"When you think of the Holocaust and the number 6 million, it's hard to grasp," said Kaylor. "Watching a story like Perla's makes it more comprehensible in human terms."

The Yom HaShoah observance was jointly sponsored by the Westmoreland Jewish Community Council of the United Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, the Greensburg Ministerium, the Greater Latrobe Ministerial Association, B'nai B'rith Warren Roy Laufe Unit #903, the National Catholic Center of Holocaust Education of Seton Hill University, the YWCA of Westmoreland County, Congregation Emanu-El Israel (Greensburg) and Beth Israel Synagogue (Latrobe).