Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day

Thursday is Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The memorial, which has already begun in Israel's time zone, marks the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

Professor Arthur Flug Kupferberg of Queensborough Community College's issued this statement:

Many people have difficulty remembering, others choose not to remember. On Holocaust Remembrance Day, we have a special opportunity to honor and to reflect on the indescribable suffering, bravery and selflessness of those who were murdered under the Nazi regime and those who became survivors. The Holocaust came to an end more than 60 years ago, yet the challenges that have emerged from this period relating to government sponsored terror, hatred as a toll of society, and the responsibility of the individual in times of moral crisis are not only still with us, but challenge us on a daily basis.  The programs, artifacts and individuals who make up the Kupferberg Holocaust Center are a dynamic force in meeting these challenges. For example, Queensborough students in our internship program interview survivors about their experiences during World War II and pledge to retell their stories to others so that when the last survivors are gone, their stories will not be forgotten.

The Kupferberg Center participated in an event last Sunday with the group March of the Living, which reunite 19 American GIs who participated in the liberation of concentration camps with Holocaust survivors in Poland.

On Friday, April 20, they will host a discussion with Holocaust survivors at 10a.m. inside the Kupferberg Holocaust Center at QCC. Spectators are invited to listen as they discuss whether or not they would ever return to Germany.