sponsored feature
The SA Jewish Board of Deputies
A sacred duty to remember
by Mary Kluk
Auschwitz survivors and World Jewish Congress (WJC) representatives outside
Auschwitz, 26 January 2015. From left: Robert Singer (CEO, WJC), Natan Grossman
(Germany), Samuel Beller (US), Florence Sprung (US), Manny Buchman (US), Masha
Schainberg (South Africa), Marcel Tuchman (US), Rose Schindler (US), Jonny Pekats
(US), Henry Korman (Germany), WJC president Ronald Lauder, Mordechai Ronen
(Canada), Joseph Madrowitz (US), Edgar Wildfeuer (Argentina)
In November 2005, the UN General Assembly
designated 27 January as International
Holocaust Remembrance Day, whose purpose is to commemorate the victims of
Nazi genocide during World War II. This
date was chosen because it was on that
day that Auschwitz, the largest and most
infamous of the Nazi death camps, was
liberated. Between 1940 and 1945, at
least 1.3 million people, mostly Jews,
were deported there, and of these, over
1.1 million were murdered.
What added special poignancy to this
year’s ceremony was that it marked the
70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. For this reason, a special remembrance ceremony took place at the camp
itself. Through the World Jewish Congress and Stephen Spielberg Shoah Foundation, one hundred Auschwitz survivors
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and their descendants from around the
world were brought out to participate in
the historic gathering. They included
South African Masha Shainberg, along
with her daughter; while Ann Harris attended as a representative of our community. I am proud that the SAJBD was able
to ensure that Masha attended, by working with the Department of Home Affairs
to resolve various difficulties regarding
the required travel documentation. The
SAJBD appreciates how the authorities,
in recognition of the special circumstances attached to this matter, so willingly assisted it in this regard.
For world Jewry, the day designated for
remembering the victims of the Holocaust
is Yom Hashoah. The annual ceremony is
one of the central events on the Jewish
civil calendar, and organising it remains
one of the most important responsibilities
of all the regional branches of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies. The practice has become, wherever possible, to have a Holocaust survivor as the keynote speaker.
Among those who have played this role
with great distinction in recent years are
Eva