HARRISBURG, Pa. — In honor of Holocaust Memorial Day in Israel, people from the Jewish community and others, gathered today in Harrisburg to remember those lost.
Sunday's event at the Holocaust monument on Front Street precedes the reading of the names program to be held at Beth El Temple on April 27 and April 28.
That's when people in Israel mark Holocaust Remembrance Day, also known as Yom Hashoah.
Stripped of their names and tattooed with numbers by their oppressors, the victims of the Nazi Holocaust are dignified by the public reading of their names and kept from the depths of anonymity, restoring their humanity.
"I felt that I was left alive by God so I could tell the story of how I survived," Holocaust survivor Linda Schwab said. "At the time, I didn't think anyone else would survive this atrocity. This does my heart good to see so many people remembering."
The reading of names on Yom Hashoah is an annual public recitation, with readings lasting 24 hours.