A DAY OF COMMEMORATION
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA HOLOCAUST OBSERVANCE
SUNDAY, MARCH 29, 2015
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA ___ MEREDITH COLLEGE
2:00-2:40 PM
CARSWELL
CONCERT HALL
3:00-4:30 PM
JONES AUDITORIUM
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LIFE AFTER LIBERATION
Discussion with Three Holocaust Survivors
Panel discussion with three Holocaust survivors who are North Carolina
residents on the challenges of establishing their postwar lives.
 Abe Piasek, an Auschwitz survivor from Poland.
 Edith Ross, an Auschwitz survivor from the Netherlands.
 Harry Weiss, a Dachau survivor from Hungary.
HOLOCAUST COMMEMORATION
Featured Speaker: Dr. Zev Harel, Holocaust survivor
Q&A with Dr. Harel after the Commemoration
Survivors and American soldiers watch a film crew set up equipment to document Nazi crimes at the Ebensee camp, Austria, 1945.
NORTH CAROLINA COUNCIL
ON THE
HOLOCAUST
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction  301 N. Wilmington St., Raleigh, NC 27601
www.ncpublicschools.org/holocaust-council
Visit the Council website to learn of its education programs for teachers and students across the state
and to download the Council’s publication, The Holocaust: A North Carolina Teacher’s Resource.
▬ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ▬
The North Carolina Council on the Holocaust gratefully acknowledges the following individuals and
organizations for their valued contributions to the 2015 State of North Carolina Holocaust Commemoration.
 Meredith College has graciously hosted the Commemoration for many years. Special thanks are due to
William Brown, Director of Events, and the staff of Meredith Events.
 The Jewish Federation of Raleigh-Cary annually prints and mails the postcard announcement of the
commemoration to its members.
 Cydney Davis-English, owner of the English Garden Florist in Raleigh, created the floral arrangement
gracing the stage. Ms. Davis was awarded the People’s Choice Award for the floral arrangement she
created in the recent Art in Bloom exhibition at the North Carolina Museum of Art; her piece was
inspired by the untitled triptych by Anselm Kiefer in the museum’s collections.
 Photographs courtesy of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum: (1) Ebensee film crew: 15650; (2) Mauthausen:
74456; (3) Nuremberg: 78901 (courtesy of Ron Leidelmeyer); (4) Niemöller: 51163 (courtesy of Joseph Eaton); (5)
Hasenhecke DP camp: 66561 (courtesy of Dvorah Rabinowitz); (6) Bergen-Belsen, 76487 (courtesy of Arnold
Bauer Barach); (7) Zev Harel, screen capture from video of 2005 talk to students, at collections.ushmm.
org/search/catalog/irn78755); (8) Ebensee: mines, 65531 (courtesy of Felix Uhrinek), Red Cross tent, 10356
(courtesy of Dr. William McDermott); (9) Ohrdruf, 64083, 64084 (courtesy of Felice Grad).
Please consider a contribution to the North Carolina Holocaust Foundation to support the
Council’s teacher workshops and other programs in North Carolina. For information and to
inspect the Foundation’s Form 990, contact Council Chairman Michael Abramson
(mabramson@nc.rr.com).
___COMMEMORATION COMMITTEE: CHAIR, STEVEN LANDAU___
Michael Abramson  Amanda Bitler  Maxine Ershler Carr  Sherry Emmanuel  Helen Frank
Robert Gelblum  Morris Glass  Cathy Herman  Mary Katheryn Howard  Lori Katzenstein
Elizabeth Knowlton  Ellen Landau  Steven Landau  Marianne Wason
Holocaust Remembrance Day is an internationally recognized day set aside for
remembering the victims of the Holocaust and for reminding us how civilized people
can act when bigotry, hatred, and indifference reign. The U.S. Congress established
the National Days of Remembrance as our nation’s annual commemoration of the
victims of the Holocaust. In 2015 Holocaust Remembrance Day is Thursday, April 16.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Each year the Governor of North Carolina issues a State Proclamation affirming
these days as a time for remembrance and reflection. View the 2015 Proclamation
by Governor Pat McCrory on the last page of this program.
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American soldier with survivors of Mauthausen, Austria, May 5-7, 1945
___________COMMEMORATION___________
Gathering Music: Serenade from Brundibár
Harrison Fisher, Piano
Steven Landau, Guitar
Brundibár (“Bumblebee”), the children’s opera composed by Hans Krása (libretto by Adolf Hoffmeister), was
performed fifty-five times by the children of Theresienstadt concentration camp in Czechoslovakia. After the final
performance in 1944 (filmed for the Nazi propaganda film The Fuehrer Gives the Jews a City), all the members of
the production staff—including the children, director, composer, and musicians—were transported to Auschwitz,
where most met immediate death.
Welcome
Steven Landau  Chair, Commemoration Committee
Greetings
Michael Abramson  Chair, N.C. Council on the Holocaust
“The Star-Spangled Banner”
Audience  Meredith Chorale
Francis Scott Key, 1814
O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
Troops of the 45th Division, Seventh U.S. Army, wave battleworn U.S. flags over Nuremberg stadium after capturing the
city, April 20, 1945.
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“First They Came . . .”
Martin Niemöller, German Lutheran clergyman
imprisoned 1937-1945 for his anti-Nazi activism
Bishop Craig Campbell
Apostle Ricardo Correa
Gethsemane Ministries
Raleigh
United Nations Worship Center
Durham
Elizabeth Knowlton
Senior, Holly Springs High School
First — they came for the Socialists,
and I did not speak out —
Because I was not a Socialist.
Original photo caption, 1945: “Thin and wan
after long months of solitary confinement,
Lutheran Pastor Niemöller, who defied Hitler at
his parish in Dahlem, Berlin, tells his story to allied war correspondents after Allied troops had
released him from the prison camp at Alb in the
Alpine mountain Dolomite Valley. He was one of
133 bold men and women of Europe who were
imprisoned at this camp for defying Hitler. Secret
orders for the execution of the most famous
personalities among them had been issued days
ago by the Gestapo. They were saved by the
arrival of the Fifth Army troops."
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Then — they came for the Trade Unionists,
and I did not speak out —
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then — they came for the Jews,
and I did not speak out —
Because I was not a Jew.
Then — they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak for me.
Lullaby from Brundibár
Vocal Students of The Singer’s Art
Alison Lawrence, Director  Harrison Fisher, Piano
Leah Bason
Lauren Bryner
Linda Cate-Collins
Johnathon Martinez
Olivia Martinez
Jordan Miller
Peyton Shaheen
Introduction to the Lighting of the Memorial Candles
Dr. Carolyn Happer
Professor Emerita, History, Meredith College
Lighting of the Memorial Candles
Survivors & Descendants
1. Morris Glass, born in Poland, survived the Lodz ghetto, Auschwitz, and Dachau, escaping
from an evacuation train and eluding capture until liberation by the Americans. He came to
the U.S. in 1949 and now resides in Raleigh.
2. Zev Harel, born in Transylvania, survived Auschwitz and Ebensee with his older brother and
was liberated by the U.S. Third Cavalry. He came to the U.S. in 1965 from Israel and now
resides in Greensboro.
3. Charlotte Wertheim, born in Germany,
escaped with her family to France and was
hidden in children’s homes near Paris and in
the countryside. She was reunited with her
surviving family in the U.S. soon after the
war and now resides in Morrisville.
4. Edith Ross, born in the Netherlands,
survived Auschwitz and was liberated by the
Soviet army; and David Ross, born in
Germany, survived in England through the
Kindertransport. The Rosses met and married Displaced persons conduct a memorial service in the synagogue of the
Hasenhecke DP camp near Kassel, Germany, 1947.
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after the war and arrived in the U.S. from
London in 1953. They now reside in Cary.
5. Harry Weiss, born in Hungary, survived Landsberg, Auschwitz, and Dachau, and was
liberated by the U.S. Army. He came to the U.S. in 1949 and now resides in Raleigh.
6. Abe Piasek, born in Poland, survived the camps of Radom, Auschwitz, and Weinhausen, and
was liberated by an African American battalion near Dachau. He came to the U.S. in 1947 and
now resides in Raleigh.
7. Melinda Stephani, a Council member, has created Holocaust teaching materials for public
schools and Christian churches. She lights a candle for all the Righteous Gentiles who saved
Jews during the Holocaust.
8. Rosemary Hoban, a nurse and health news journalist, volunteered with Doctors Without
Borders in 1999 to deliver medical care to Madurese fleeing ethnic violence in Indonesia. She
places the shamos in an empty candle holder to remember all victims of genocide and hate
crimes.
We invite all survivors in the audience to join the candlelighters on the stage, and
all second-, third-, and fourth-generation descendants to gather in front of the stage.
____SILENT MEDITATION____
“Ani Ma’amin”
Holly Holder, Vocalist
Steven Landau, Guitar
performed during the Candle-Lighting Ceremony
I believe. I believe, I believe, with a perfect faith, in the coming of the Messiah.
And even if he will tarry, despite this, I will wait for him each day to come. I believe.
Written by an unknown composer, “Ani Ma’amin” is based on the thirteen articles of faith by the rabbi
and Torah scholar Maimonides (1135-1204 C.E.). Many Jews sang “Ani Ma’amin” as they faced
imminent death in the gas chambers.
“Inscription of Hope”
Meredith Chorale
Laura Sam, Director  Brenda Fernandez, Piano
Z. Randall Stroope
performed as survivors and descendants come to the front of the auditorium
Ellen Arnette
Mary Beth Cameron
Caroline Carter
Danielle Estes
Sydney Ferrell
Anesia Fletcher
Chelsea Huber
Naomi Kulesza
Myriah Luke
Maggie Mauney
Jordan Monk
Sohini Mukhopadhyay
Megan Outten
Lauren Patton
Victoria Peach
Hannah Squires
Written for Holocaust remembrance by the American composer Z. Randall Stroope, the lyrics of “Inscription
of Hope” are based on words reportedly found after the war on the wall of a cellar in Cologne, Germany,
where many Jews had hidden during the war. The first three lines of the song are those words.
I believe in the sun even when it is not shining.
And I believe in love even when there’s no one there.
And I believe in God even when he is silent.
I believe through any trial there is always a way.
But sometimes in this suffering and hopeless despair,
My heart cries for shelter to know someone’s there.
But a voice rises within me saying “hold on my child.
I’ll give you strength, I’ll give you hope,
just stay a little while.”
“El Malay Rachamim”
Prayer for the Departed
I believe in the sun even when it is not shining.
And I believe in love even when there’s no one there.
But I believe in God even when he is silent.
I believe through any trial there is always a way.
May there someday be sunshine.
May there someday be happiness.
May there someday be love.
May there someday be peace.
Rabbi Raachel Jurovics
Yavneh: A Jewish Renewal Community, Raleigh
Exalted, compassionate God, grant perfect peace in Your sheltering Presence, among the holy and
the pure who shine with the splendor of the firmament, to the souls of the holy martyrs who have
gone to their eternal home. Master of mercy, shelter them beneath your wings eternally, and may
their souls be bound up in the bond of life. You are their portion. May they rest in peace. And let us
say: Amen.
Liberation of Major Camps
Majdanek
Auschwitz
Ohrdruf
Buchenwald
Bergen-Belsen
Dachau
Ravensbrück
Mauthausen
Ebensee
Theresienstadt
Poland
July 23, 1944
Poland
January 27, 1945
Germany
April 4, 1945
Germany
April 11, 1945
Germany
April 15, 1945
Germany
April 29, 1945
Germany
April 29, 1945
Austria
May 5, 1945
Austria
May 6, 1945
Czechoslovakia May 8, 1945
Original caption: “"The
last hut goes up in
flames while a crowd
of former inmates and
British soldiers watch
a German flag bearing
the iron cross and a
portrait of Hitler also
go up in flames."
Bergen-Belsen
May 21, 1945
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,
Mourners’ Kaddish
Rabbi Eric Solomon
Aramaic prayer recited in mourning for the deceased
Beth Meyer Synagogue, Raleigh
Let the Glory of God be extolled, let the great Name be hallowed, in the world whose creation God willed.
May God’s reign soon prevail, in our own day, our own lives, and the life of all Israel, and let us say,
Amen. Let God’s great name be blessed forever and ever.
Let the name of the Blessed Holy One be glorified, exalted, and honored, though God is beyond all the
praises, songs, and adorations that we can utter, and let us say, Amen.
For us and all Israel, may the blessing of peace and the promise of life come true, and let us say, Amen.
May the One who causes peace to reign in the high heavens, let peace descend on us, and on all Israel, and on
all the world, and let us say, Amen.
(transliteration of the Aramaic)
Yitgadal v'yitkadash shmei raba.
sh'mei d'Kudsha B'rich Hu,
b'alma div'ra chirutei,
l'eila min kol birchata v'shirata,
v'yamlich malchutei,
tushb'chata v'ne'che'mata,
b'cha-yeichon uv'yomeichon
da-amiran b'alma, v'imru: Amen.
uv'cha-yei d'chol beit Yisra-el,
Ye-hei shlama raba min sh'maya,
ba-agala uvizman kariv. V'im'ru Amen.
v'cha-yim aleinu v'al kol Yisra-el.
Y'hei sh'mei Raba m'varach
V'imru: Amein.
l'alam ul'almei almaya.
Oseh shalom bimromav
Yitbarach v'yishtabach v'yitpa-ar
Hu ya-aseh shalom aleinu,
v'yitromam v'yitnaseh,
v'al kol Yisra-el, V'imru: Amein.
v'yit-hadar v'yitaleh v'yit'halal
Introduction of Speaker
Elizabeth Knowlton
Senior, Holly Springs High School  Member, Commemoration Committee
FEATURED SPEAKER
______DR. ZEV HAREL
Born in Transylvania, Dr. Harel was fourteen when he and his family were
sent to Auschwitz in 1944, where he survived selection by lying about his
age. With his older brother he was sent to the Ebensee camp where they
endured hard labor until their liberation in May 1945 by the U.S. Third
Cavalry (whose veterans he has thanked at several reunions). Emigrating to
Palestine, Dr. Harel fought in the war for Israel’s independence and in
1965 came to the U.S. to pursue his Ph.D. in social work. After retiring as a
professor from Cleveland State University, Dr. Harel moved to Greensboro
with his wife Bernice in 2013.
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Ebensee, a Mauthausen subcamp, Austria, May 1945: former forced-labor mines; survivors outside a Red Cross tent set up by the U.S. Army
f
“Song of the Partisans”
Meredith Chorale
Laura Sam, Director  Brenda Fernandez, Piano
Hirsch Glick
A Lithuanian poet, Hirsch Glick worked with the underground while in the Vilna ghetto. In July
1944 he escaped from a concentration camp and disappeared; it is presumed that he was captured
and executed by the Nazis. His “Song of the Partisans” became the anthem of Jewish partisans in
Eastern Europe and a song of hope and courage in the concentration camps.
Never say this is the final road for you,
Though leadened skies may cover over days of blue.
As the hour that we longed for is so near,
Our step beats out the message — we are here!
The early morning sun will brighten our day,
And yesterday with our foe will fade away.
But if the sun delays and in the east remains—
This song as password generations must maintain.
From lands so green with palms to lands
all white with snow,
We shall be coming with our anguish and our woe,
And where a spurt of our blood fell on the earth,
There our courage and our spirit have rebirth.
This song was written with our blood and not with lead.
It’s not a little tune that birds sing overhead.
This song a people sang amid collapsing walls,
With grenades in hands they heeded to the call.
Therefore never say the road now ends for you.
Closing Remarks
Steven Landau
Chair, Commemoration Committee
“America the Beautiful”
__PLEASE STAND__
Audience  Meredith Chorale
Lyrics by Katherine Lee Bates
Music by Samuel A. Ward
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
  
After the Commemoration there will be a thirty-minute open discussion with the featured speaker,
Dr. Zev Harel, in the rear of the auditorium. Dr. Carolyn Happer, Professor Emerita, Meredith College,
who initiated the college’s Holocaust Studies class, will moderate the discussion.
Generals Eisenhower, Patton, and other American officers talk with survivors of Ohrdruf, a Buchenwald subcamp, Germany, April 12, 1945
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r,