Yom Hashoah, the Holocaust Day of Remembrance, will be held this year on Thursday, April 19, but programs in Queens will run over a longer period of time.
The 49th observance honors the six million Jews who lost their lives in the Holocaust during World War II. At many of the programs, survivors give testimony about the nightmare they lived through during the Nazi regime. With fewer of them still alive, the stories are even more poignant.
Here are some of the offerings in Queens:
Kati Marton, former TV correspondent and author, will speak on Raoul Wallenberg on Monday, April 16 at 1:30 p.m. at the Central Queens Y, 67-09 108 St. in Forest Hills. Cost is $3 for members and $6 for nonmembers.
Wallenberg was a Swedish diplomat who defied the Nazis to help up to 100,000 Jews avoid the death camps. In 1945, he disappeared into the Soviet prison system and his fate remains unresolved.
On Wednesday, April 18, at 1 p.m. the Kupferberg Holocaust Center and Archives at Queensborough Community College, 222-05 56 Ave. Bayside, will present the film, “The Life of Primo Levi,” an Italian chemist who survived Auschwitz. Tickets are $5 at the door.
The Rockwood Park Jewish Center, 156-45 84 St., Howard Beach, will hold its commemoration on April 18 at 7 p.m. There will be an NYPD honor guard escorting Holocaust survivors. Werner Friedlander, a survivor, will speak.
On April 18 at 7:45 p.m. Columbia law Professor Menachem Rosensaft will discuss “Jewish Perspective on World War II War Crimes Trials” at the Young Israel of Hillcrest, 169-07 Jewel Ave. It is also sponsored by the Utopia Jewish Center, Ohr Moshe Torah Institute of Flushing and the Torah Center of Hillcrest.
Also on April 18, Temple Torah of Little Neck at 54-27 Little Neck Parkway will offer a talk by Holocaust survivor Ethel Katz. The program begins at 7 p.m. and is cosponsored by Little Neck Jewish Center and Marathon Jewish Center.
The Forest Hills Jewish Center, 106-06 Queens Blvd., will hold a commemorative program at 7:30 p.m. on April 18.
“The Whitestone Jewish Center, 12-45 Clintonville St., will commemorate Yom Hashoah on April 19 at 6:45 p.m.
Barbara Wind, director of the Holocaust Council of Metro West, will speak at a ceremony sponsored by the Brandeis Association at the Queens County Civil Court Jury Room, 89-17 Sutphin Blvd. in Jamaica on April 19 at 6 p.m.
A joint remembrance will be held at Israel Center of Conservative Judaism, 167-11 73 Ave., Flushing on April 19 at 7 p.m. Also participating are Flushing-Fresh Meadows Jewish Center, Hillside Jewish Center and Hollis Hills Jewish Center.
The Reform Temple of Forest Hills, 71-11 112 St., will hold a special shabbat memorial service on April 20 at 8 p.m. Cantor Cary Schwartz will present a program on music of the Holocaust.
The Briarwood Jewish Center, 139-06 86 Ave., will host a Yom Hashoah program at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, April 22. The program will include a showing of the documentary “It was Nothing ... It was Everything,” which recounts the destruction of Greece’s Jewish Community during World War II; and a talk by Greek Holocaust survivor Lena Cassuto Goren.
Leo Zisman, a Holocaust survivor and author, will speak at Young Israel of New Hyde Park, 264-15 77 Ave., on April 22 at 7:25 p.m. Also taking part are Bell Park Jewish Center, Queens Jewish Community Council and Northeast Queens Jewish Community Council.
The Howard Beach Judea Center, 162-05 90 St., will hold its annual Yom Hashoah memorial service on Sunday, April 29 at 7 p.m.Those who plan to attend should RSVP by calling (718) 845-9443.
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