COMMUNITY YOM HASHOAH: DEFIANCE AND RESISTANCE, MAY 4, 2008; TEMPLE EMANU-EL, PORT RICHMOND, STATEN ISLAND
"For the first time, I didn't want to fight," the Slonim, Poland native said, during the Staten Island Jewish Community's observance of Yom HaShoah -- Holocaust Remembrance Day. This year's theme was "Defiance and Resistance," with an emphasis of teaching future generations of the Holocaust.
Ms. Abramowicz, with no remaining family, joined the 51st Partisan Unit in the forest outside of the Slonim ghetto in early August of 1942.
Keynote Speaker: Lyubov Abramowicz
Her unit became part of Voroshilov Brigade, one of the main resistance groups during the Holocaust. She served as a rank-and-file soldier, and had multiple duties. In addition to caring for wounded Jews, she helped coordinate troop train bombings and attacks on Ukrainian SS and German troops, she said.
Now 88 years old, she told her story to those in attendance, with hopes of informing the "next generation" of Jews about the struggles during the Holocaust, and how small groups of people formed resistance groups. A long applause rang through the 100-year-old synagogue after her story concluded. "I'm very happy to talk because I want everybody to know," she said after the commeration. "To be mute is not good; the whole world must know."
Those in attendance were moved by the speech, and were glad some children were present to hear it as well. "It gave her something to live for," said Great Kills resident Freida Haimo of Temple Emanu-El, whose parents fled Europe in 1939 for Bolivia. "The speech was wonderful for the upcoming generation of children." "Many people think that [the Jews] went to the slaughter and that there was no resistance at all," said Manny Saks, chairperson of the Yom HaShoah Commemoration Committee. "There were pockets of resistance all over." George Laufer, a member of the Committee for 10 years, was in agreement of the commeration's theme that future generations should know the story of the Holocaust. "So they can remember, and it keeps on going and going. The object is not to forget."
Prior to the end of the ceremony, seven Holocaust survivors lit large candles to pay homage to the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust. The fire to light the candles came from small candles, which were presented by children at the start of the commeration.
Source: "Her family slain by the Nazis, she found the will to fight back" by Mark Stein, Staten Island Advance, May 5, 2008