International Holocaust Remembrance Day in Ukraine is celebrated at the Presidential level. The importance of this date is due to the fact that about one and a half million of the six million dead were connected with our territory. They were either residents of modern Ukraine or immigrants from these lands. Therefore, the loss of a large number of our fellow citizens is painful to this day. The Khmelnytskyi Charitable Foundation "Hesed Besht" honored the memory of the victims of fascism with a number of events.
The Foundation's employees began the day together at the Thiya Community Center. Together they watched the film "The Brave Heart of Irena Sendler," which tells the story of the Righteous Among the Nations, who saved Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto. This event once again brought people together working together on a common goal of educational work on the topic of the Shoah. Watching the film motivated the Hesed employees to hold further events.
At noon, several minibuses lined up near the Thiya Community Center. They transported members of the Jewish community, men from the minyan, representatives of the Regional Department of Culture, museum workers, caring citizens, and media representatives to the Holocaust Memorial on Silskohospodarska Street - all those who came to honor their fallen fellow citizens. A symbolic rally was held at the Memorial. The director of the Hesed Besht Jewish Community Foundation, Igor Ratushny, spoke about the tragedy of the gathering and the importance of preserving memory for future generations. A wreath was laid at the memorial by the Association of Ghetto and Concentration Camp Prisoners, and its chairman, Boris Shlain, shared his memories of his experiences in the fascist ghetto. Members of the Association, Leonid Pidlisny and Arkady Vainer, also spoke.
The men recited the Kaddish, according to Jewish tradition. Everyone who wished could light a candle of remembrance as a sign that no one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten.
While the events at the Memorial were taking place, young people - 10th grade students - gathered at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in the Thiia Community Center. This is the result of joint work between the Foundation's museum staff and the employees of the Khmelnytskyi Regional Library for Youth. The head of the museums, Halyna Atamanchuk, gave the students a tour of the museum and showed the documentary video "On the Eve of the Catastrophe". The head of the library's advertising department, Iryna Mishchenko, presented books related to the topic of the Holocaust in the Podillia region and the world, as well as the Righteous Among the Nations. All publications are always available to young readers of the library.
The main idea expressed by most of the speakers that day, people who are involved in the Holocaust or are studying its consequences: "Let this never happen again." Eternal memory to the dead and peace to all of us.
