DC: “March for Remembrance” on Holocaust Remembrance Day

On April 11, 2010, per our previous report, volunteers in Washington DC held a “March for Remembrance” to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah).  The event was led by event representative Ted Pearce, who sought to have such a march with Christians, Jews, and others in solidarity together to show united remembrance of the Holocaust.

"March for Remembrance" April 11, 2010 - Washington DC

"March for Remembrance" April 11, 2010 - Washington DC

Ted Pearce has led similar marches in Germany and in Texas.   He stated that “if only Jewish people remember the Holocaust, then I fear that in some ways the Holocaust has already been forgotten by some,” which is why he organized this latest “March for Remembrance” in Washington DC.

Ted Pearce Organizes Marchers at the Beginning of Washington DC "March of Remembrance"

Ted Pearce Organizes Marchers at the Beginning of Washington DC "March of Remembrance"

TOS Ministries, based in Germany, has led such events in the past.  TOS Ministries-Germany Pastor Jobst Bittner is the founder of “The March for Life,” and spoke at the Washington DC event in German with an English translator about confronting and challenging anti-Semitism in Germany.  TOS Ministries’ Pastor Bittner spoke about forming a church with a mission to confront and change attitudes on anti-Semitism in Tubingen, Germany, which had a past in the Nazi regime.  Pastor Bittner spoke about the efforts to combat anti-Semitism and to speak out about the Holocaust in Germany, including holding public Hanukkah services and holding marches in Germany to remember the Holocaust, like the march that was now being held in Washington DC on April 11, 2010.

TOS Ministries-Germany Pastor Jobst Bittner Speaks of Defying Anti-Semitism in Germany

TOS Ministries-Germany Pastor Jobst Bittner Speaks of Defying Anti-Semitism in Germany

Other speakers at the March for Remembrance included Avi Mizrachi (Foundation for Holocaust Education Projects), Paul Argiewicz (Holocaust survivor, liberated from Buchenwald, April 11, 1945), Peter Loth (born in Stuttot concentration camp), and David Goldkorn (survived death march from Dachau).

Holocaust survivor Paul Argiewicz spoke of his time in Nazi concentration camps and urged the world never to forget the Holocaust.  Paul Argiewicz was a Polish Jewish teenager who was forced to leave his home, schooling, and family due to Nazi anti-Semitism and spent five years in Nazi forced labor camps from Auschwitz to Buchenwald as Number 176520.

Holocaust Survivor Paul Argiewicz Speaks

Holocaust Survivor Paul Argiewicz Speaks

The message was reinforced by all attendees that the Holocaust would be remembered, and that it would be each of the attendee’s responsibility, whatever their religion, to ensure that the world will Never Forget, so that we can all be responsible for ensuring “Never Again.”   Organizer Ted Pearce stated that that the event would be continued as an annual tradition on Yom HaShoah in Washington DC.   After the speakers, there was a lighting of 6 candles in memory of the 6 million who were killed in the Holocaust.  At a separate event that night, Immanuel’s church in Silver Spring, Maryland held a “Concert of Remembrance.”

Other Photographs of Event:

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