STORY BY STEPHEN
VRATTOS
Photos by Julie Weissman “I was well aware of what is going
to happen to me that day.
I will suffocate to death in the
gas chamber and they will shove me
into the burning ovens and the only
thing left of me will be my ashes.”
The audience sat transfixed. Not
a sound was heard. Hundreds of
residents, family members and
friends; Towers on the Green was
filled as never before, but not so
much as a shifting in one’s seat
interrupted Holocaust survivor
Rosalie Simon’s story.
The many gathered this
Wednesday evening, April 11,
for the annual Yom Hashoah
Memorial. Crowds poured into the
North Shore Towers catering hall
as soon as the doors opened at 7
p.m. quickly filling the row upon
row of seats, which continued to
grow as Buffy’s team rallied to cart
additional seating into the venue
right up until the 7:30 p.m. start.
Jointly sponsored by the Migdal
Chapter of Hadassah at NST and
the co-op’s Board of Directors
Special Projects Committee, Yom
Hashoah honors the 6 million Jews
murdered during the Holocaust,
and in keeping their memories
alive, so too rekindle the importance
of never allowing such atrocities
to ever happen again. “It’s so
important for us to come together as
a community to honor them,” said
Eva Kessner, a Holocaust survivor
herself and Haddassah member
who opened the event.
Special Projects Chair Bob
Ricken followed. He highlighted
the need for survivors to break their
silence by paying tribute to friend
and longtime NST resident Larry
Zelmar, who’d recently passed
away. Zelmar never spoke of his
Holocaust experiences, and the
guilt of surviving, when his mother
and father, and siblings did not, was
apparent. Even after achieving great
success in business, he remained
silent. He did, however, found a
club for Polish-American survivors
upon his retirement.
Inspired by survivors during his
filming of “Schindler’s List” in 1994,
Director Steven Spielberg established
the Survivors of the Shoah
Visual History Foundation to film
and preserve first-person survivor
testimonies and encourage their use
in education. As the Long Island
coordinator of the Anti-Defamation
League for about ten years, Ricken
worked with the legendary director’s
representative to facilitate the
historic project with survivors in
the area. It was through Ricken’s
involvement Zelmar finally broke
his silence, finally giving testimony
to what had happened to him, his
tale preserved to educate future
generations around the world.
Beloved friend of NST, Rabbi
Michael Klayman then presented
the invocation. He spoke of the
two types of silence, the first being
“legitimate” silence. “There can never
be adequate words when it comes
to our response to the Holocaust,
Nazi barbarism and the suffering
of 6 million Jews… Anything less
than silence, would dishonor the
victims, living and dead.”
According to Rabbi Klayman,
“the second type of silence has no
place in the Jewish community of
2018,” especially with the number
who bore physical witness to the
Holocaust dwindling, soon gone.
“When it comes to bearing witness
to their stories, we are obligated not
to remain silent. It is our sacred duty
to bear verbal witness to share the
stories, the accounts, the histories
in person and in print.”
Rabbi Klayman expressed concern
for today’s young Jews who
actively ignore the Holocaust and
dismiss identification with the
Jewish people. In so doing, they
are collaborating with Hitler. “Let
us pledge and continue to pledge
never to be silent.”
Marcia Jacobson presided over
the candle-lighting ceremony,
which began with Shirley Zeller,
whose husband, Joe, recently
passed away. Joe was a Czech survivor
of Auschwitz, who never got the
opportunity to light a candle. The
evening’s Guest of Honor, Rosalie
Simon, approached the table next.
A Czech Auschwitz survivor as
well, Simon, was followed by her
husband, Sidney, who fought for
the Underground during the war.
Polish survivor of Auschwitz,
Hilda Schwartz preceded another
Czech survivor of Auschwitz,
Irene Greenwald, who worked
in the death camp’s gas chamber.
Born in Vienna and coming to
America from Germany, survivor
Erica Nordhauser lit the final of the
six candles, which represent the 6
million victims of The Holocaust.
Great Neck High School junior
NEVER FORGET
Hundreds gather to “Remember”
Speaker Rosalie Simon and Husband Sidney lit the 2nd and 3rd candles,
accompanied by their daughter and grandson
Rabbi Michael Klayman presented the Invocation 16 NORTH SHORE TOWERS COURIER ¢ May 2018