On Sunday afternoon, members of the Mansfield community as well as the Emanuel Jacob Congregation gathered to remember what we must never forget: the tragedy of the Holocaust.
For nearly 20 years, the Emanuel Jacob Congregation has held the annual Holocaust Memorial Service called Yom Hashoah. Sunday’s service delivered a message of solemn remembrance, while also encouraging hope, prayer and unity.
Such a message was said no better than through the words of Anne Frank, who fled to Amsterdam with her family in 1933 to escape Nazi persecution. It was while hiding for three years in a sealed-off room that she kept a now-famous diary.
Carolyn Oppenheimer of the Emanuel Jacob Congregation read the last excerpt from Frank’s diary, written on Saturday, July 15, 1944, to open Sunday’s service.
“It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out,” read Oppenheimer. “Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.”
“At Yom Hashoah we remember the Holocaust, in the earnest wish that nothing approaching it will ever happen again,” said Paul Hyman, Emanuel Jacob Congregation President. “By remembering what happened, we can avoid the path that led to the attempted genocide of Jews and the deaths of so many others.”
Rabbi Michael Oppenheimer of the Emanuel Jacob Congregation led those in attendance in prayer, holding in memory those who perished at the hands of the wicked.
“The Holocaust reminds us of the depths of depravity humans are capable of and the challenges to our very humanity this represents,” said Rabbi Oppenheimer. “As individuals and as a community we vow to tell this story to our own and to others. We vow to build a world of acceptance, not prejudice, of inclusion, not rejection.”
Lori Cope, Safety Service Director for the city of Mansfield, delivered a proclamation on behalf of Mansfield Mayor Tim Theaker designating the week of April 27 through May 4, 2014 as the Days of Remembrance Mansfield to remember the victims of the Holocaust, as well as to reflect on the need for respect of all peoples.
“The people of the city of Mansfield should always remember the terrible events of the Holocaust and remain vigilant against hatred, persecution and tyranny,” Cope read in the proclamation. “We the people of the city of Mansfield should actively rededicate ourselves to the principles of individual freedom in a just society.”
Richland County Commissioner Ed Olson read a similar proclamation, declaring the importance of remembering the events of the Holocaust to promote harmony, justice and civility.
“The history of the Holocaust demands our reflection and public discussion of the moral responsibilities of individuals, societies and governments for the sanctity of human life,” said Olson.
The Emanuel Jacob Congregation welcomed guest speaker Sol Factor to share his Holocaust story on Sunday. Factor currently resides in Beachwood, Ohio and teaches Jewish History at Kent State University. He told the tale of how in 1946 he was born in Munich, Germany near a displaced persons’ camp. In 1950 Factor was adopted by an American couple in Massachusetts and in 1990, began a 17-year search for his birth mother, a Holocaust survivor who disappeared in the aftermath of World War II.
With help from numerous sources, Factor eventually uncovered the identity of his mother, Roza Pollak, born in 1924 in Orosken, Romania. She was a woman who had survived Auschwitz and later lived in a displaced persons’ camp in St. Ottilien, a village near Munich. Factor attempted to make contact with Roza in 2007 through the Red Cross, but she replied she did not wish to make contact.
Two months ago, Factor learned Roza had passed away several years prior, never remarrying or having more children.
Factor explained in his search for his mother he discovered records about himself he never knew existed, including a picture of him as a baby right before his flight to America. Despite never making contact with his birth mother, Factor said he was very grateful for what his search had brought him.
“I’m very grateful to a number of people,” he said. “I have evidence for my children to have shared with them and now for my grandchildren once they get old enough, I can now share with them. It has been a very fascinating story.”
Mindy Duffner, Emanuel Jacob Congregation Yom Hashoah Chairperson, concluded Sunday’s Memorial Service with a group recital of the words found on the wall of a cellar in Cologne, Germany, where Jews hid from Nazis: “I believe in the sun even when it is not shining. I believe in love even when feeling it not. I believe in God even when God is silent.”
“At Yom Hashoah we remember the Holocaust, in the earnest wish that nothing approaching it will ever happen again,” said Paul Hyman, Emanuel Jacob Congregation President. “By remembering what happened, we can avoid the path that led to the attempted genocide of Jews and the deaths of so many others.”
