:: Interfaith Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony
May 4, 2000 7:30 p.m. at St. Hyacinth Parish Hall

Program
Memorial Candlelighting
Program Speakers
Special Thanks

Program

Memorial Candlelighting

1. In memory of the six million Jewish lives lost in the Holocaust

   Honorable Tzipora Rimon, Consul General of Israel, accompanied by Taylor Horn, granddaughter of survivors Dr. and Mrs. Felix Horn.

2. In memory of the millions of non-Jewish Poles who died in the Holocaust

   Honorable Ryszard Sarkowicz, Consul General of Poland, accompanied by Roksana Pietrasienska, daughter of Polish Consul Pawel Peitrasienski.

3. In memory and honor of the Righteous who risked their lives to save others

   Zophia Kuklo, Righteous Among the Nations, accompanied by Samantha Lula, her granddaughter.

4. In memory of the Polish and American soldiers who died fighting the Nazis

   Nathan Firestone, Jewish-American War Veterans, accompanied by Ben Rothschild, his grandson.
   Wieslaw Chodorowski, President, Home Army Foundation, accompanied by Aleksandra Niebrugge, his granddaughter.

5. In memory of Sister Maria Antonina Kratochwil and all of the Polish priests and sisters who helped Jews in need

   Sister Libera Mezzari, School Sisters of notre Dame, accompanied by Erin Barth, St. Mary of Celle School.

6. To hope and to life

   Beata Bors, Polish American Association Youth Program
   Hershel Zolno, Association of Descendants of the Shoah

Program Speakers

Lisa Derman is a Holocaust survivor and was a resistance fighter during the Nazi occupation of Europe. Mrs. Derman has spoken extensively on radio and television, and in schools, universities, seminars, churches, synagogues, and Jewish and Christian organizations about her experiences. In 1992, Lisa Derman and her husband Aron took a group of 110 high school and college students to Warsaw, Aushwitz, Treblinks, and Majdanek. A documentary film about this trip ("Journey of Remembrance") received two Emmy Awards, a certificate of merit at the International Television Festival, and many other awards. Lisa and Aron Derman were featured in the video "Voices...Memories of Survivors in Chicagoland", as well as Bill Curtis' Investigative Reports "The Nazi's Secret Killing Squads" on A&E. Mrs. Derman is currently the president of the Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois, and the director of its Speaker Bureau.

Reverand John T. Pawlikowski is America's leading Catholic expert on the Holocaust, and he is co-director of the Catholic-Jewish Studies program within the Cardinal Bernardin Center at Catholic Theological Union. Father Pawlikowski is a founding member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council; a member of the Advisory Committee on Catholic Jewish Relations for the National Conference of Catholic bishops; past co-chair of the National Polish-American/Jewish-American Council; and vice-president of the American Association for Polish-Jewish Studies. His work has been recognized with the Raoul Wallenberg Humanitarian Award for Distinguished Contributions to Religion and the Distinguished Service Award from the American-Jewish Committee, among others. Author of numerous books, Father Pawlikowski graduated from Loyola University of Chicago, studied at St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, and was ordained in 1967.

Rabbi Herman E. Schaalman is a native of Munich, Germany, and was ordained at Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati. Rabbi Schaalman has been affiliated with Emanuel Congregation of Chicago since 1955. Rabbi Schaalman has served as past president of numerous Boards of Directors, including the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Chicago Board of Rabbis, the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, and the Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago. He currently serves as chair of the Advisory Committee of teh American Jewish Committee, and he is a member of the Education Committee of the American Jewish Committee, and he is a member of the Eucation Committee of the National Holocaust Musuem. Rabbi Schaalman holds the Jewish Chautauqua Society resident lectureship at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary, Evanston, and at Chicago Theological Seminary. Rabbi Schaalman has received many awards: he was named one of the outstanding foreign-born citizens of Chicago; in the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago bestowed on him their highest awards, The Julius Rosenwald Medallion.

Special Thanks

Barbara Glatt & Jeff Liggett of ANET Internet Solutions, The Lira Ensemble, and St. Hyacinth Parish.

Find out more about Polish rescuers and partner organizations of the Polish Rescuers Project.