2023 Holocaust Day of Remembrance
Sunday, April 16, 6:45 pm
Temple Israel, 7255 Granby Street, Norfolk
Yom Hashoah, a time to remember and reflect on the Holocaust, will take place in Tidewater on Sunday, April 16 at Temple Israel in Norfolk.
The entire community is invited to the commemorative program in which the victims of the Holocaust will be honored and the survivors who made their homes in Hampton Roads following the Holocaust will be celebrated. The evening will include a speaker, candle lighting ceremony, and prayers and remarks from local clergy.
Student winners of the Holocaust Commission’s annual Elie Wiesel competitions and recipients of the Commission’s Excellence in Education awards will also be recognized for their hard work and accomplishments in furthering the lessons of the Holocaust.
The evening’s featured speaker will be local Holocaust survivor Michel Ashe, who survived the Holocaust hidden in France. As a young toddler in 1940, Ashe and his mother fled Paris for the South of France for Arthès. They were eventually joined by his father, and together they were hidden and protected by the kind people of Arthès. Through twists and turns of living as a hidden child, Michel Ashe, his sister, and his parents were all able to survive the Holocaust.
In recent years, Ashe has told his story and shared the lessons of the Holocaust. Through his hard work and determination, he managed to have the families that protected his own family named Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem.
In his personal essay in To Life: The Past is Present, Ashe makes clear his thoughts on the importance of standing up in order to demonstrate strength of character and moral courage.
For more information, visit www.holocaustcommission.org, email info@holocaustcommission.org or call 757-965-6100.