Ceremonies in remembrance of the 70th Yom Hashoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, will take place throughout the country this week, including Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria, PE & the Free State. Get all the dates and times of events planned by the SA Jewish Board of Deputies around the country, as well as comprehensive details of the Johannesburg event – including the incredible speakers.
2015 marks the 70th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz, and other Nazi death camps. On Thursday, 16 April, the South African Jewish Board of Deputies will once again be holding its annual Day of Remembrance Ceremony in memory of the Six Million Jewish Martyrs who perished at the hands of the Nazis during World War II.
The Johannesburg ceremony will take place at the Martyrs’ Monument in the Jewish Section of West Park Cemetery at 12h30.
The guest speaker this year is Hugo Marom, now 86, who was born in Brno, Czechoslovakia. He and his brother Ruby were amongst the Jewish children saved by Sir Nicolas Winton. He was transported on the Kindertransport to London.
His parents died in a concentration camp. In 1944 Hugo joined the RAF to become a fighter pilot and was then sent back to Prague with his brother to join the Czech Air Force. In 1953 he was asked to form the 110th night fighter squadrons and six years later led the development of Israel Aircraft Industries.
In 1964 he left the army and founded a company for the construction and design of airports, which leads to the present day. In 2011, Marom received the Gratias Agit award for promoting the Czech Republic’s good name abroad. Hugo married Martha, a survivor of 6 concentration camps and had a daughter.
Included in this ceremony, Marsha Schaimberg, a Polish survivor from Auschwitz, living in South Africa will also be relating, her story and of her return to Auschwitz to take part in the 70th anniversary commemorative ceremony on 27 January this year,
Dates and times:
JOHANNESBURG
Thursday, 16 April 2015
12h30
Martys’ Monument, Jewish Section, West Park Cemetery