The symbolism was powerful as Jews and Christians assembled for Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), at the Alabama State Capitol, in the Old House Chamber Friday -- the very room where the Ordinance of Secession was adopted by the Alabama Legislature in 1861.

In that Chamber, the Governor of the State of Alabama, Bob Riley, came in the name of the people of Alabama, to pay homage to those Alabama citizens who are survivors of the Holocaust.

It was the Governor himself who insisted that the Alabama Holocaust Commission come to this very public place, on this Yom Hashoah, to carry out its mission of utilizing public and private resources to provide Holocaust and genocide education to all Alabamians.

70TH ANNIVERSARY OF KRISTALLNACHT

Commission Chair Phyllis Weinstein introduced the program. She recognized State Sen. Ted Little, a Holocaust Commission member, who announced a Community Services Grant of $5000 to the Commission, to further its work. Phyllis spoke of this 70th anniversary year of Kristallnacht, when during a 48-hour rampage hundreds of German synagogues were torched and Jews were beaten and killed by the Nazis.

This occasion, Phyllis said, "was the beginning of the movement from rhetoric to state-sponsored murder of the Jewish people." Phyllis spoke passionately about the importance of the Commission's purpose, which is to foster an understanding of one of mankind's darkest periods.

Pastor Carl Gebhardt, of the First Christian Church of Florence, gave the invocation. Incorporating the phrase "we will remember; we will not forget," Pastor Gebhardt spoke of the importance of these Days of Remembrance, and the ingathering of "family in this place at this time," where God's children are together as one people.

Brian Kurlander then read Rabbi Davin Schoenberger's epic poem, "We, the Six Million Murdered People Speak" -- a beautiful work written by the Rabbi as a remembrance of the 9th day of November, 1938, when he watched his synagogue burn to the ground. (Rabbi Schoenberger fled Europe after his synagogue was burned and came to the US where he spent time in Alabama.)

'SEARED INTO MY MIND'

Gov. Riley then addressed the assembly. He began by describing his visit to Dachau concentration camp 20 years ago as a memory "seared into my mind," and depicted Dachau as a place where "man's inhumanity to man is in full display." Speaking directly to the survivors on hand, Riley praised them for dedicating their lives to preserving memories so that such atrocities will never be repeated.

The Governor said that there is an inscription at Dachau quoting philosopher George Santayana cautioning that "those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it." But, said Gov. Riley, "there is another quote etched below that one that simply reads: 'Never again'."

Gov. Riley, in presenting a proclamation to Birmingham Holocaust survivor Max Herzel, proclaiming April 27th-May 4th our state's "Week of Remembrance," told Max, "You are on my list of heroes."

The Governor's address was followed by a beautiful violin tribute by Theodore Haddin, a candle-lighting by Holocaust survivors and their families, and an incredibly moving Memorial Prayer and Kaddish, chanted in Hebrew by Cantor Dan Gale, of Temple Beth-El in Birmingham. The benediction was offered by Rabbi Scott Kramer, of Agudath Israel Synagogue in Montgomery.

The acoustical quality of the Old House Chamber added its own magic to the notes of the violin and of the cantor, and to the words of the speakers.

We thank Gov. Riley and the State of Alabama for this moving Holocaust Remembrance ceremony and for bringing us together, as Alabamians, to learn from the horrors of the past.