Holocaust victims honored at Simsbury ceremony

By Paul Palmer

Staff Writer

Bob Borke reads some of the names of those that died at the Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony.

One by one they read the names: Maria Olitzki, Laya Hoffman, Abram Krasik, Gila Krasik, Shaie Borowski… Then they read their ages: 6, 3, 49,19, 12 … Then they read their place of death and the year they died… Steklony Zavod Ukraine 1942, Auschwitz 1944 , Klimovich Belorussia 1941, Auschwitz 1942. For 24 hours, the victims of the Holocaust were remembered at a ceremony in front of Eno Memorial Hall in Simsbury.

“Our main goal is to remember,” said Chuck Minor, one of the organizers of Yom HaShoah (Remembrance Day). “Today you read about some people that deny the Holocaust ever happened,” he added. Similar ceremonies took place around the nation and around the world on April 17-18. It is not only to remember and honor the six million Jews who died in World War II, but also the other 5 million people who perished. “One of the most powerful ways to affirm that it happened is to say their names out loud,” said Minor.

The Simsbury event was organized by the Farmington Valley Jewish Congregation and is in its 10th year. Readers of all faiths were welcomed to speak aloud the names of the dead. Minor estimates that 20- 30,000 names will be read this year from lists they have compiled. He also said that some folks bring their own list that may have family members or others they are connected with on their list. Minor had recently visited the United State Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. When visitors arrive, they are given a card with a name and information about a person who perished in the Holocaust. Minor brought the cards he and his family were given so that he could read their names this year. For those that could not make it in person to Eno Hall, the event was also live streamed.

…Cornelius DeVries, Perished at Neuengamme..Sandor Gambo, from Hungary..Yakov Kucher, age 36, Romania 1943..Beilinke Lewin, Age 6, Wolozyn, 1941 ..Sonny Spinner, Age 10, Kalusz 1942..Achim Itzkowic, Age 13 from Berlin, Auschwitz 1942…