Bergen County to Hold Holocaust Remembrance Day Ceremony

Office of the Bergen County Executive

For Immediate Release:

Hackensack, NJ ““ Bergen County will remember the tragic events of the World War II Holocaust in a special ceremony on Wednesday, May 4th at 3:00 P.M. This year’s theme for the Day of Remembrance, “Justice and Accountability in the Face of Genocide: What Have We Learned?” acknowledges the painful actions and effects of the Holocaust while seeking to gain wisdom and enlightenment from revisiting the event’s history. Specifically, the theme reminds people of moral responsibility, using prosecuted Nazis who carried out the murders as an example of how “just taking orders” is not a valid excuse for behavior. As stated in United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s resource sheet for the event, “No one, regardless of official position, was above the law… Not only were the shooters at mass executions and the guards at gas chambers tried, but physicians and business leaders, government officials and civil servants also were required to take responsibility for their actions.”

The Day of Remembrance ceremony will be held on the Bergen County Court House Lawn on Main Street in Hackensack. The keynote speaker will be Rabbi Dr. Wallace Green, who was the Director of Jewish Educational Services for the UJA of Northern New Jersey for over a decade and has served on their Holocaust Memorial Committee for many years. Other attendees and participants include Rabbi Mordechai Kanelsky from the Bris Avrohom Center and Rabbis Berel and Mendel Zaltzman of the Bris Avrohim in Fair Lawn.

For the full version of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Day of Remembrance resource sheet, please visit: www.ushmm.org/remembrance/dor/years/2011/theme-links.pdf

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