2023 30thAnniversaryCommemorativeBook SINGLEPAGES-small - Flipbook - Page 46
MEETING THIS
MOMENT’S URGENCY
Growing up in
Baltimore in the late
1940s, at the age of
seven or eight,
I remember noticing that many of
my Hebrew school teachers had
numbers tattooed on their arms and
spoke in broken English.
As I approached bar mitzvah age, I
started to read books and articles on
the Holocaust. I remember sitting
at my desk, reading and crying. My
wonderful parents, Sara and Sam
of blessed memory, were at first
concerned that I was too young to
handle such horrors and tried to
take the books away from me, but I
explained to them that I had to know
what was done to my People!
On April 22, 1993, an unusually
cold and rainy spring morning, I
vividly remember being there for
the Holocaust Museum’s dedication
ceremonies, which included
inspiring speeches by President Bill
Clinton; Chaim Herzog, president of
Israel; Harvey Meyerhoff, chairman
of the United States Holocaust
44 l UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM LEGACY OF LIGHT GUARDIANS
Memorial Council; and, especially
Holocaust victim and Nobel Peace
Prize laureate Elie Wiesel, whom I
admired a great deal. I remember
feeling so proud and happy to have
played a small part in making the
Museum a reality.
As the Holocaust recedes in time, and
Holocaust denial, antisemitism, hate,
and extremism are on the rise, the
Museum’s mission takes on an even
greater urgency. Since the Holocaust
Museum safeguards the world’s
most comprehensive collection of
Holocaust-related photos, artifacts,
documents, films, oral testimonies,
and other evidence of the Holocaust,
including such things as an actual
cattle car that was used to transport
the Jews to the concentration
camps—it must be in a position to
teach the lessons of this history for
generations to come. We would
feel truly honored to know that our
legacy gift was used to fund whatever
the Museum feels is necessary to
ensure that there will never be
another Holocaust. Mankind must
know and never forget!”