Weekend of remembrance for Holocaust

LIMA — What textbooks can’t tell you about the Holocaust, you can learn at the Holocaust Commemorative Weekend today and Saturday. The two-day event, organized by Temple Beth Israel-Shaare Zedek around Holocaust Remembrance Day today, will pay tribute to events past with song, poetry, film and museum exhibits, said event planner Connie Hornung.On Friday, the Temple will hold a community service at 7:30 p.m., Hornung said. In addition to the songs and verse featured in the service, guests will also have a chance to see a special “living history” display. The exhibit will feature letters, stamps and more from the Holocaust provided by Gary Levitt and the Museum of Postal History at the Delphos Post Office. Local Holocaust survivor Liesl Sondheimer, who has lived in Lima since 1940, will also be available for questions and stories.“A lot of people like to come to things at the Temple just to have access to (Sondheimer),” Hornung said. “She has spoken to many, many church and school groups around the state. She’ll be there to answer questions, so people can sit with her and ask about her life and how things were.”On Saturday, the Temple will screen two films themed around the Holocaust. “Voyage of the Damned” from 1976 stars Faye Dunaway and follows the true story of the SS St. Louis, a refugee ship from Europe turned away by Cuba and other world nations. The second film, “Fate Did Not Let Me Go,” is a documentary which describes a mother’s goodbye letter to her son that arrives almost 50 years after she dies in a concentration camp.Hornung said guests will also be encouraged to visit the Museum of Postal History in Delphos from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday, which features a new exhibit on correspondence from the Holocaust.Even though people know more about the Holocaust now than in years past, Hornung said events such as this encourage further learning in the community.“People are learning more and seeing how we commemorate that event,” she said. “To remember these people is important to those of us that are here. Hopefully (people) will learn more about the past so that they teach their children and grandchildren.”