The Holocaust Center in Maitland has announced the speakers for its April 27 community Yom HaShoah program. This annual International Day of Remembrance commemorates the lives of the six million Jews who died during the Holocaust and honors the Survivors, Liberators, and Rescuers who keep their memories alive.
This year’s featured speaker will be Joanie Holzer Schirm, author of Adventurers Against Their Will. She will be sharing the lessons learned from the Holocaust-era letters she inherited from her father, Dr. Oswald A. Holzer. Through Dr. Holzer’s correspondence, including copies of letters he sent from the relative safety of China where he sought refuge from his native Czechoslovakia, we learn firsthand of the struggles of his friends and family as they faced fear, betrayal, deprivation, isolation, and victimization. In their real-time accounts of the war years, we come to terms with the everyday suffering that comes from prejudice and indifference.
Honorary Chair for the event will be Orlando City Commissioner Patty Sheehan. Also participating in the interfaith service will be Rev. Willie Barnes of the Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church and A Gift For Music Chamber Orchestra.
The Yom HaShoah program will include traditional music, prayers, and candle lighting by area Survivors as well as the presentation of awards to winners of the Yom HaShoah Student Creative Arts Contest.
The event will take place Sunday April 27 in the gymnasium of the Jewish Community Center, 851 N Maitland Ave (next door to the Holocaust Center) and will begin at 4:00 PM. No admission is charged, and reservations are not required.
The Center’s programs and events are made possible through generous grants and sponsorships by the United Arts of Central Florida, Inc., and Florida Department of State – Division of Cultural Affairs, and the Center’s generous corporate and individual supporters.
