Commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day Jan. 24

The Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center in partnership with the Jewish Federation and the Roth Family JCC will present, via Zoom, the International Holocaust Remembrance Day Commemoration featuring Holocaust survivor Ralph Preiss on Jan. 24, 3 p.m. - 4:30 p.m., in observance of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day and remember the innocent six million Jews and millions of other people who fell victims to Nazi persecution.

Tribute will be paid to the millions of lives lost, through a candle lighting and a commemorative reading and powerful words of inspiration by local students.  

Preiss, who will be introduced by his nephew, Keith Dvorchik, will share his family's harrowing story of survival and triumph. Born in Breslau, Germany in 1930 (now Wroclaw, Poland), Preiss's father was a Jewish physician working under socialized medicine in a little farming town, Rosenberg O/S (now Olesno). When Hitler came to power in 1933, he fired all Jewish professionals working for the government. But since there were not enough replacements available, his father did not lose his job till the spring of 1938. By then, the Jews that had managed to get out of Germany before then had used up the quotas of immigrants to other lands so that there were only openings in Shanghai and the Philippines. More than 400 people applied for permission and the Preiss family were lucky to receive visas and they arrived in Manila March 23, 1939.

The family was not allowed to bring money out of Germany. Having an expired German passport permitted them to live out of Japanese concentration camps during the war. They survived liberation by joining guerillas on Mt Banahaw for a few months.

Rabbi David Kay will conclude the event with the reciting of the Mourner's Kaddish.

Register in advance for this meeting at https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYkd-CrrTIvHNSd7O_L-pjcGvzGCP1gGmeL

To learn more about the International Holocaust Remembrance Day speaker and Preiss' story, view the film "Rescue in The Philippines," which can be viewed at http://www.holocaustedu.org.

"Rescue In The Philippines" is a one-hour documentary of the previously untold story of the five Frieder brothers. This documentary chronicles a real-file Casablanca, full of intrigue, unlikely heroes, and a perilous humanitarian mission to save Jews from persecution half a world away. A high-profile group of cigar-smoking poker buddies, including Colonel Dwight Eisenhower, devise an intricate international plan which successfully rescued up to 1,300 Jews from the horrors that would otherwise await them in Nazi concentration camps.

This film is free and is available for you to watch at your leisure until Jan. 27. Once you register, you will receive a link with a password to watch the film.