Yom HaShoah Commemoration Focuses on Survivors and Their Legacy

From the desk of Lori Shepherd, Executive Director

On Sunday, April 12, the Southern Arizona community came together to commemorate Yom HaShoah, a day of remembrance for the Holocaust.

Together, we mourned the six million Jewish lives lost and we honored those who, against the greatest of odds, survived. We extoll the virtues of those who put themselves in harm’s way to save others, often people they had never met. And we gave thanks for the liberators who, through their own sacrifices, helped restore humanity amid chaos and devastation.

This year, we focused on a profound legacy, not of the Shoah itself, but of those who remain and the generations who have followed. For decades, survivors have carried the weight of memory on their shoulders. Their legacy is more than a historical record; it is a collection of deeply personal human stories that restore dignity to those the Nazi regime tried to destroy.

These survivors have transformed the abstractness of the Holocaust into a living witness, teaching us that even in the face of absolute evil, the human spirit retains the capacity to rebuild, to love, and to find joy.

As the generation of firsthand witnesses grows ever smaller, their legacy becomes our sacred mission. It is our moral mandate to:

• Continue to bear witness, ensuring the stories of the six million are never erased or forgotten.

• Stand against hate, heeding the warnings and recognizing the early signs of dehumanization and prejudice in our own time.

• Celebrate resilience, honoring the "living legacy" of every child, grandchild, and great-grandchild who carries this culture and peoplehood forward.

This year, as we commemorate Yom HaShoah, we are doing exactly that. We bear witness, we stand together against hate, and we celebrate resilience through the words of our own local survivors. In the very special video linked below, local survivors share the legacy they are most proud of—the values and stories they pass on to us and to the generations to come.

Let us listen to their words and promise that "Never Again" is not just a phrase, but a legacy that we strive to protect every day.

View the video here.