Remember the millions killed, persecuted during the Holocaust on May 5 in Oak Ridge

Ronnie Bogard
·6 min read

People are invited to remember the victims of the Holocaust with a special ceremony at the Jewish Congregation of Oak Ridge, 101 W. Madison Lane, from 3 to 4 p.m. Sunday, May 5.

The U.S. Congress established a week of remembrance as the nation’s annual commemoration of the Holocaust. Observances and remembrance activities run from May 5, the Sunday before Holocaust Remembrance Day (May 6) through the following Sunday, May 12. The Days of Remembrance across the country are meant to memorialize the millions of victims of persecution and mass murder in the Holocaust, and to never forget.

Rabbi Ahuvah Lowenthal, from left, of the Jewish Congregation of Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge City Council member Charlie Hensley, Steve Reddick and Dorothy DeVan, teachers of the Oak Ridge Institute for Continued Learning (ORICL) Kimmelman Holocaust Class, pose for a photo after City Council approved a resolution making May 5 Holocaust Remembrance Day in the city. Rabbi Lowenthal The resolution was approved and presented at the April 8, 2024 City Council meeting in the Municipal Building. A public Holocaust Remembrance Program will be held May 5.

Oak Ridge City Council proclaimed May 5 as Holocaust Remembrance Day for 2024. The Jewish Congregation of Oak Ridge (JCOR), the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church (ORUUC) Choir, and several students from Oak RIdge Schools will all be represented at the community Holocaust Remembrance program. The program will feature a candle-lighting ceremony, songs, readings, prayers, and Oak Ridge High School teacher Sheila Morton as the closing speaker.

Sheila is an English teacher at ORHS. Before coming to Oak Ridge, she was a professor and the director of writing at Tusculum University. Although her research interests have largely been in 18th century British history and literature, she became interested in Holocaust education a few years ago while enrolled in a study group with the organization Facing History and Ourselves. She began incorporating some of that organization’s methods and lesson plans into her standard English courses.

She became acquainted with Steve Reddick and Jinx Watson, dedicated Holocaust scholars and long-time members of both the Facing History and Tennessee Holocaust Commission. Steve and Jinx had been working to encourage ORHS to develop a course on the Holocaust.

Sheila Thorton
Sheila Thorton

As Steve and Jinx shared with Sheila their desire to see the course developed, Sheila became excited about the possibility. A new, very receptive principal had just been named at ORHS, and he was eager to see the course developed, as well. The Oak Ridge Board of Education approved the course content in January 2023 for the upcoming academic year. This first year has been the pilot year of the class, with an enrollment of 60 students.

Several of Sheila’s students will participate as readers in this year’s Holocaust program.

The ORUUC Chorus has participated in the Remembrance program for many years. Their Chorus is currently led by Alexandra Engle, music director for ORUUC. Alexandra holds a Bachelor of Music in classical vocal performance from Belmont University in Nashville, and a Master of Music in voice from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. She spent six years as a professional opera singer, and has been a vocal teacher since 2016.

Alexandra came to ORUUC after serving as the music director at the Church of the Savior in Knoxville since 2015, and has a lot of experience selecting a diverse body of music in a wide range of styles. This will be her first year leading the chorus for the Remembrance Program. The first two songs are from the resistance efforts during the Holocaust. The Song of the Partisans, (also known as Never Say), was inspired by the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The last song toward the closing of the service, "I Believe” is based on an inscription on the wall of a cellar in Cologne where a number of Jews hid themselves for the entire duration of the war. Mark Miller's adaptation of this song is a sweeping, layered choral arrangement that has both lamentation and comfort, and speaks to a deeper hope.

Mira Kimmelman, a local Holocaust survivor who passed away April 17, 2019, initiated the Holocaust Remembrance program many years ago. Mira is the author of "Echoes From the Holocaust: A Memoir" (1997) and "Life beyond the Holocaust: Memories & Realities" (2005). She spent many years lecturing to various community groups and classes about her experiences.

It is now up to all of us to carry Mira’s legacy forward and educate ourselves and the community about the Holocaust. To further Mira’s legacy her children, Benno and Gene, partnered with the Tennessee Holocaust Commission to establish the Mira Kimmelman “Learning From the Holocaust” Contest in 2021. This year Eleanor Valentino, whose team won honorable mention in the 2023 essay/visual art projects contest will speak about her project and connection with Mira as part of the Remembrance program. Julie Kinder-McMillan has been teaching Holocaust content in the eighth grade English Language Arts classroom for more than 20 years at Robertsville Middle School and has been instrumental in encouraging her students to participate in the contest. Eleanor, now in high school, is one of those students.

Each year there is a Mira Kimmelman Holocaust Study Group held in the weeks prior to the Holocaust Remembrance Program. The class is offered through the Oak Ridge Institute for Continued Learning (ORICL) and is currently led by Steve a retired eighth grade English Language Arts teacher from Jefferson Middle School, and assisted by Dorothy DeVan, also a retired English Language Arts teacher from Jefferson. The study group is designed to explore the events leading up to and including the Holocaust, along with the roles of the international community, religious groups, propaganda, and to encourage personal self-reflection in response to hate and intolerance.

There will be yellow memorial candles for anyone attending the service to take home and light with their family after the program. The memorial candle is in memory of the 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. The candle is modeled after a traditional Jewish memorial Yahrzeit candle that burns for 24 hours during periods of mourning and on the anniversary of death of a loved one.

Alexandra Engle
Alexandra Engle

The Anti-Defamation League reports that antisemitic acts surged to historic levels last year, with more than 8,800 antisemitic acts that were tracked. That’s more than the previous three years combined, and by far the highest on record since ADL began tracking in 1979. Many incidents have been on college campuses, leaving Jewish students feeling vulnerable and unsafe.

Antisemitism, racism, and other forms of hatred continue to rise in the United States and around the world. It is now all the more important to remember the Holocaust and empower ourselves to make the world a better place for future generations. We come together for this Yom HaShoah Program as a community, to support our youth in the face of today’s difficult environment, and remember how hate looked not that many decades ago in Europe.

If you prefer to attend virtually, the Zoom link is on the JCOR Facebook page. The meeting ID is 886 1084 2956. The passcode is 700489.

Ronnie Bogard was a lifelong student of Mira Kimmelman from the time Mira moved to Oak Ridge in 1964, and they worked together on Holocaust programming for many years prior to Mira’s passing. Ronnie is currently the Holocaust Education coordinator for the Jewish Congregation of Oak Ridge.

This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Public invited to Holocaust Remembrance program on May 5 in Oak Ridge