Remembering the victims as individual people with life histories March 24, 2023 [St. Petersburg, FL] — The Florida Holocaust Museum (The FHM) invites the community to visit the Museum free of charge all day on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, in observance of Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day). This year’s observance will include free admission from 10:00 AM until 5:00 PM. Visit www.TheFHM.org to reserve your tickets. The Museum will also offer a virtual lecture featuring Dr. Zachary Mazur, from the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, titled The 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: Resistance and Survival in the Holocaust, via its Facebook page www.facebook.com/TheFHM at 11:30 am. The day will culminate with a commemoration service at 5:30 PM followed by Holocaust survivor, Roland Levi. Yom HaShoah honors the memory of the more than six million Jews who perished during the Holocaust. The full name of the day is Yom HaShoah Ve-Hagevurah or “Day of the Remembrance of the Holocaust and the Heroism” as it also marks the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Annual Names Reading Commemoration. From 10:00 AM until 5:00 PM., members of our communities will read aloud the names of Holocaust victims at 5-minute intervals. To register or for more information please visit www.TheFHM.org/events for more details. More about The FHM’s Yom Hashoah Schedule 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM: Reading of Holocaust Victims’ Names Register by visitingwww.TheFHM.org/events 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM: Free admission to all visitors www.TheFHM.org/visit 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM: Virtual Lecture, The 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: Resistance and Survival in the Holocaust, with Dr. Zachary Mazur, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews on our Facebook page www.Facebook.com/TheFHM. 5:30 PM: In-person commemoration service featuring a candle lighting by Holocaust Survivors and their children, and testimony from Survivor Roland Levi.www.TheFHM.org/events About Roland Levi Roland Levi was born in Antwerp, Belgium in 1939. In 1943, Roland and his sister, Nadya, were enrolled at the Institute de Notre Dame de Sion, where the Sisters accepted the responsibility of hiding the children from the Nazis at the Institute. In 1944, Roland’s mother and father were arrested and taken to the Dossin Barracks in Mechelen and the Belgian Gestapo arrived at the Institute and removed Nadya and Roland from their school. Both children were sent to the Wezembeek Orphanage, and eventually, sent to Auschwitz. After arriving at the train station, a well-educated woman was able to confront the guards and inform them of an agreement between the Nazis, the queen mother Isabella, and Cardinal Jozef-Ernest van Roey, stating that Belgian Jewish children under the age of 16 were not to be sent to Auschwitz. She negotiated with guards and obtained the release of numerous Jewish children from the Wezembeek orphanage, including Nadya and Roland. The children were returned to the orphanage. Roland and Nadya were liberated in September 1944. Roland’s parents survived Auschwitz, but their health had been destroyed and they passed away in the late 1940s. |
Museum LocationThe Florida Holocaust Museum55 Fifth Street SouthSt. Petersburg, FL 33701Phone: (727) 820-0100www.TheFHM.org |
About The Florida Holocaust MuseumOne of the largest Holocaust Museums in the country, and one of three nationally accredited Holocaust museums, The Florida Holocaust Museum honors the memory of millions of men, women, and children who suffered or died in the Holocaust. The FHM is dedicated to teaching members of all races and cultures the inherent worth and dignity of human life in order to prevent future genocides. For additional information, please visit www.TheFHM.orgPhotos: |