Bayonne’s Annual Holocaust Memorial Program Set For Monday, April 13th: Survivor Maud Dahme Will Speak

City of Bayonne

2 months ago

Bayonne’s Annual Holocaust Memorial Program Set for Monday, April 13th; Survivor Maud Dahme Will Speak

Editor’s note: Readers may remember our review of the excellent historical analysis of the Holocaust as an event that should have never happened – through a careful dissection of the psychological causes and underpinnings of it. Also of interest may be our review of Gangsters vs. Nazis, which detailed exactly what happened when they tried to bring that let’s call it ‘sentiment’ here – fisticuffs and brass knuckles, but no deaths. Most recently and in theaters currently is The Optimist, an incredible exploration of the realities of the Holocaust from a survivor who finds his voice and discards his guilt by befriending a young girl who is also struggling with a similar guilt and a crushing secret similar to one of his own. Through mutual understanding he becomes an inspiration to many.

Bayonne’s annual Holocaust Remembrance Service is scheduled for Monday, April 13th, at 6:00 p.m., in the Dorothy Harrington City Council Chambers at 630 Avenue C. The event is sponsored by the United Jewish Appeal (UJA) Federation of Bayonne and the Bayonne Interfaith Clergy, and is hosted by the City of Bayonne. Mayor Robert Kubert is the honorary chairman of the program. Maud Dahme, a Holocaust survivor from The Netherlands, will be the special guest speaker. With help from the Dutch anti-Nazi underground, she was hidden on a farm. As a hidden child, she avoided being sent to a concentration camp. Ms. Dahme serves as Chair of the Commission on Holocaust Education in New Jersey.

At the memorial program, elected officials will offer brief remarks and present proclamations, resolutions, and citations. Representatives of various faiths will offer prayers and reflections. Members of Bayonne’s veterans’ groups will carry the colors and the banners of their posts. Bayonne students will also participate in the processional. Hawk Harmony, a musical group from Hudson Catholic High School, will sing.

Hara Lynn Benjamin, a cantorial singer with the Temple Beth-El Religious School, will lead the singing of Hatikvah. Alan Gordon Smulen, a cantorial singer from Temple Emanu-El and President of the board of Amore Opera, will lead the singing of the Star-Spangled Banner. The accompanist will be Sidney Hagans, Director of the Bayonne Interfaith Choir. Lee Smulen is also a member of the event’s music committee.

The event will include a candle-lighting ceremony to remember the victims of the Holocaust.

The winners of the Holocaust writing and art contest at Bayonne High School will receive awards sponsored by the Preminger and Epstein families.

Arnold Wendroff is President of the UJA Federation of Bayonne. Dr. Ellen Goldberg is the Executive Director of the UJA Federation and the Jewish Community Center. Ilona Rosenberg is President of the Bayonne Jewish Community Center. Helene Kessel Nagiar and Joseph E. Ryan will co-chair the service.

This memorial program is free and open to the public.

Banner Image: Auschwitz entrance. Image Credit – Colin C Murphy

City of Bayonne

Bayonne is a community that retains many of the elements of a small town. One and two family homes, small apartment buildings, and small business predominate. There is a population of 62,000 people who take pride in their hometown and its history. Bayonne residents and their ancestors moved to the city from many parts of the world. During colonial times and the first century of the American Republic, the Dutch, British, and Africans were the first groups to arrive after the Native Americans. Subsequent waves of immigrants came from all over Europe, especially between the 1880s and the 1920s. In recent decades, sources of immigration have largely been represented from countries in Latin America, the Middle East, and Southeastern Asia. Each group has left its mark on the cultural, religious and political life of the community.