April 8, 2021 | 11am – 1pm PST
Every year on Yom HaShoah, the Day of Remembrance, communities around the world uphold the memory of victims of the Holocaust through the Reading of the Names, a public recitation of Holocaust victims’ names, ages, and birthplaces. The Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education will once again sponsor the Reading of the Names. While the event is normally held at Pioneer Courthouse Square, this year a selection of community members, elected officials, and Holocaust survivors will be reading at the Oregon Holocaust Memorial in Washington Park and the names read will be those written on the Memorial, which recognizes the lost families and friends of local Holocaust survivors. The Reading of the Names will be a virtual event and will be recorded.
“The readings are from lists of names Unto Every Person There Is a Name seeks to defy indifference and historical revisionism, which denies that the Holocaust ever happened, by personalizing the individual tragedy of the dead and the survivors,” explains OJMCHE Executive Director Judy Margles. “Furthermore, keeping the memory of the victims alive fulfills one of the vital tenets of our collective experience – zachor – to remember.”
This is one of a series of events recognizing Genocide Awareness and Prevention Month with the series co-sponsored by The Immigrant Story, Oregon Historical Society, OJMCHE, Never Again Coalition, Jim Lommasson, PSU Holocaust and Genocide Project, and WorldOregon.