- Press Releases
The JFCS Holocaust Center, the Contemporary Jewish Museum (CJM), Lehrhaus Judaica, and the Jewish Community Relations Council—in collaboration with San Francisco synagogues, schools, and other community organizations—are hosting a Holocaust Day of Remembrance on May 1, 2011, at the CJM, 736 Mission St., San Francisco. Admission is free, and people of all ages are invited to join in the all-day commemorations.
From 11:00 am to 4:00 pm, museum attendees can participate in family programs, educator workshops, group tours, teen activities, and the special exhibit “Charlotte Salomon: Life? or Theatre?” on loan from the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam. The exhibit highlights the fascinating story of Salomon, who painted as a way to cope with family trauma and the upheavals in Europe during Nazi occupation. In conjunction with the exhibit, Morgan Blum, Director of Education at the JFCS Holocaust Center, and Devra Aarons, Executive Director of the Contra Costa Midrasha, will present “Art as a Tool for Survival,” a workshop for educators, from 12:30 to 2:30 pm, at the CJM. The workshop is free, but reservations are required. (RSVP to [email protected].)
Starting at 4:00 pm, there will be a reading of names of those who perished during the Holocaust. The names, culled from those in the Bay Area who lost relatives during the Holocaust, will be read by youth volunteers.
A service of remembrance will take place from 5:00 to 6:00 pm in the museum’s Goldman Hall. Participants will include San Francisco rabbis, cantors, musicians, Holocaust survivors, and young people, including the winner of this year’s Morris Weiss Scholarship Award, a yearly honor bestowed upon a high school student who has written an essay on a Holocaust-related theme.
For more information about the San Francisco Holocaust Day of Remembrance, call 415-449-1281 or email [email protected]. For information about other JFCS events and programs, call 415-449-1294 or email [email protected].
About JFCS and the JFCS Holocaust Center
Founded in 1850 by immigrant pioneers who arrived in California during the Gold Rush and created an extended family to care for each other, JFCS is one of the oldest and largest family service institutions in the United States. More than 160 years later, we continue to serve as that extended family, serving 75,000 people annually with the highest quality, research-based social services designed to strengthen individuals, families, and the community.
The JFCS Holocaust Center is dedicated to the education, documentation, research, and remembrance of the Holocaust. Each year, it offers many programs and workshops to increase the awareness of the public about the causes and consequences of hatred, intolerance, and indifference—during the Holocaust, as well as during contemporary times.