JCRC holds Shoah Memorial Ceremony
The Jewish Community Relations Council of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation hosted the community’s annual Shoah Memorial Ceremony April 19, bringing together Survivors’ families, students, clergy, and community members to remember the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust and reaffirm the importance of remembrance and education.
The program began with a video tribute to Holocaust Survivors from the Youngstown area, accompanied by classical music performed by Brady Snyder, followed by a musical selection by Liron Daniels.
Teen leaders involved in the Jewish Community Relations Council’s Student to Student program, BBYO, and Maccabi guided the ceremony. Tres Hively, Blythe Hively, Henry Long, and Ezra Hively reflected on the responsibility of the next generation to preserve Survivor testimony and confront antisemitism through education and dialogue.
They spoke about the impact of Survivor testimony, the Student to Student program, and the Classrooms Without Borders Poland Seminar, which this year will send six local teens and three local teachers to Poland to study Jewish life before the Holocaust and visit concentration camp sites, continuing the mission of bearing witness.
A central part of the ceremony was the lighting of six memorial candles by descendants of Holocaust Survivors, symbolizing the six million Jewish lives lost.
The candle lighters were Polly Stein, Mike Rawl, Terri Anderson and Jerry Kinast, Ben Honigman and family, Margie Meyer and family, and Howard Honigman and family.
A seventh candle, representing the State of Israel, was lit by Tamar Sigler, an Israeli teen and local BBYO leader, in recognition of Israel’s resilience and hope for peace.
A special presentation unveiled a new traveling exhibit honoring Abe and Frances Honigman, Holocaust Survivors whose story of love and perseverance was shared through a video narrated by their children, Ben, Margie, and Howard. The siblings were present at the ceremony with approximately 30 family members to honor their parents’ legacy.
Abe and Frances were born in Poland in the early 1900s. When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, both of their families were uprooted and eventually relocated to the Kielce Ghetto. Later, when many others in the ghetto were sent to the Treblinka death camp, Abe and Frances were married in a secret ceremony, a union that became a sustaining force throughout the Holocaust.
Both were ultimately sent to death camps. After liberation, each believed the other had been killed. Abe eventually learned Frances was alive, and the two were reunited. They immigrated to the United States in 1953 and settled in Youngstown. Abe purchased and expanded a corner grocery store, and Frances worked alongside him to build the family business. Together, they raised three children and created a legacy that now continues through future generations.
As the ceremony concluded, participants were reminded that Yom Hashoah is not only a day of mourning, but also a call to action—to preserve memory, stand against hatred, and ensure that the lessons of the Holocaust continue to guide future generations.