Holocaust
commemorated in Monroe
Politicians,
survivors vow to "never forget"
By JOHN MAJESKI, Home
News Tribune Online, April 16, 2007
MONROE -- Four words brought
them together.
"We shall never forget," Mayor Richard Pucci said during Sunday's statewide
Holocaust commemoration program at Monroe Township High School.
Local dignitaries, politicians, Holocaust survivors and others came together for
Yom HaShoah — to remember the 6 million Jews who were systematically
exterminated and to honor those who escaped a similar fate.
Sponsored by the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education and other Jewish
organizations, the event's centerpiece was a speech by Helen Rosenzweig, a
township resident and survivor who served as a maid to the infamous Commandant
Amon Goeth and was saved by Oskar Schindler as depicted in the movie
"Schindler's List."
"We need to keep the flame of remembrance alive," Rosenzweig said.
Rosenzweig spoke of Goeth having pulled her braids and hitting her one time
while performing duties.
"You are a stupid Jew, and you don't know how to iron a shirt properly," she
said she was told.
Rosenzweig said Goeth often "humiliated" her and treated her as a "slave."
But she said Schindler entered the picture.
"From the beginning I was confused about Schindler," she said. "He seemed
to stand out."
Rosenzweig said Schindler had given her hope while she was a servant, referring
to her nicely as "young child" and saying that she would survive.
She did. Rosenzweig was one of an estimated 1,100 Jews saved by Schindler
when the industrialist had them work in a factory he owned in what was then
Poland, now part of the Czech Republic.
Rosenzweig spoke of the differences between how Schindler and Goeth wielded
their respective power. While Goeth used his to "torture and kill,"
Schindler chose to "save people in crisis."
"From my experience, I have learned we have a choice in life," Rosenzweig said.
The event also included music, other guest speakers and a menorah lighting.
Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) said Holocaust survivors are a "testament to
human spirit."
Looking to the present and future, Menendez urged audience members to stand up
to bigotry and intolerance here and around the world. He referred to the
genocide in Darfur. And he also mentioned Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad's claims the Holocaust was a "myth."
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