The names of 6,000 genocide victims will echo through the Capitol Rotunda from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday, and there are lessons to be gained from every life featured at Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Example: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began April 19, 1943, according to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. The previous year, the Germans deported or murdered 300,000 Jews in the ghetto. Jewish resistance mounted 500 fighters to oppose the Germans. Armed with pistols from the Polish Underground Home Army, rebels died breaking up mass deportations to concentration camps. The uprising started when the Germans came to destroy the resistance on the eve of Passover. The Jews fought to protect their ghetto, but the Germans razed the buildings on the third day. All of Warsaw would be looted ruins by the time the Allies forced a German retreat more than a year later.
Although they did not triumph, Leah Simpson, event organizer and Jefferson City Public Schools teacher, hopes attendees of Holocaust Remembrance Day will draw insight from the rebellion's bravery as new injustices, war and genocides arise.
"I think that the Jewish cry is 'Never again,' and historically, it happens again and again. We have Rwanda, we have Bosnia, we have Herzegovina, and we have probably the Syrians (now)," Simpson said. "We all must do something. I choose to educate so other people may choose to write a letter to their senator. Some people may choose to donate money. But whatever each individual is comfortable with, your role is to do something, to never let something like this happen again, to aid somebody who needs help."
The internationally recognized Holocaust Remembrance Day corresponds to the Hebrew calender's 27th day of the Nisan. The Rotunda will be filled with posters displaying information about the Holocaust and events like the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. People who resisted or were rescued from the Nazi purge will be highlighted with brief biographies. The event will also address the definition of genocide, noting where others have occurred, and encouraging tolerance and justice.
The Kaddish (Jewish prayer of the dead) will be read in English to begin at 8 a.m. and again in English and Hebrew to conclude at 8 p.m.
The event is free and open to the public.
Simpson consulted with Dan Reich, the St. Louis Holocaust Museum director of education, while organizing the event, and Warren Solomon of the Temple Bethel in Jefferson City assisted with research and content editing.
Simpson said she hopes to hold a similar program next year with the goal of finding a Holocaust survivor to serve as keynote speaker.