Mumbai: Children sang as dozens of candles lit up the Magen David Synagogue in Byculla on Thursday evening. The occasion was solemn, though — more than 150 members of the Jewish as well as non-Jewish community across India, as well as Consul Generals of France, Israel, Iceland, Canada, Italy, Hungary, Germany, Turkey and Poland came together to remember the Holocaust victims.
Eli Ramrajkar, who participated in the ‘March of the living’ in Poland and Israel, an annual educational programme aimed to educate people about the history of the Holocaust, remembered his interaction with a survivor. “The loving, energetic 90-year-old man, Harry Bibring narrated how he survived one concentration camp after another, working hard and knowing he would overcome this difficult phase in his life. Standing strong, he only trembled when he spoke of his dear mother and how he was forced to let go of her as they were separated during the selection process at the concentration camp.”
Mr. Ramrajkar went on to say that Mr. Bibring, did not see her mother after that, as she was murdered that very night. “Carrying on only with the image of his mother in his head, Mr. Bibring is now a successful dentist in the United Kingdom and lives with his wife and children.”
Recalling the atrocities on the community, Solomon Sopher, managing trustee of three synagogues in India and the president of Sir Jacob Sassoon Trust said, “We are gathered here today to mourn the happenings that took place in the 20th century. This is a tremendously sad day not only for the community, but for humankind. Every generation should know about the agony that their brothers and sisters had to go through.”
Lebana Penkar, secretary, International Organisation of Bene Israelis said, “We have not forgotten that hatred and evil may have extinguished human life as it is in its physical form, its dignity and freedom but the triumph of the human spirit which survived the darkest hour of the human history is not to be forgotten.”
‘Never again’
Consul General of Israel, Yacob Finkelstein, speaking about the phrase ‘Never Again’, which is usually associated with the Holocaust, said, “For us, Never Again is a strategy; it is a policy to protect the Jewish state and people from further such atrocities such as the Holocaust. Today, we are here to commemorate and remember our dark days.”
Christopher Grossman, Chief, Political and Economic Affairs at the US Embassy said, “Today, we have all come together to mourn the loss of innocent human lives. Though the occasion that we have come together for is not a happy one, we have all united standing in solidarity against such atrocities as the Holocaust.”
