A capacity crowd was in attendance April 12 at the State Room in downtown Boston for Yom HaShoah 2026: Boston’s Community Holocaust Commemoration. Each year, the breathtaking backdrop of sky-high views of our capital city lend light and hope to a solemn but eloquent event, painstakingly planned by members of the JCRC Boston Holocaust Committee, that pays tribute to the memories of area Holocaust survivors, including New England Holocaust Memorial founders Israel “Izzy” Arbeiter and Stephan Ross.
Attendees included Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, State Treasurer Deb Goldberg, Malden Mayor Gary Christenson, Boston City Councilors Sharon Durkan, Ed Flynn and Ruthzee Louijeune, Jewish Alliance For Law and Social Action CEO Cindy Rowe, JCRC of Greater Boston CEO Jeremy Burton, State Rep. Greg Schwartz of Newton, Jewish Family Service of Metrowest CEO Lino Covarrubias, American Jewish Committee New England Associate Director Scott Gladstone and JCRC Board Member, CJP Campaign Cabinet Member and adviser to the Hillel Council of New England Michael Tauer.
“We gathered here last year against the backdrop of a divided nation within a divided world, with historic levels of political and ideological polarization and the meteoric rise of overt antisemitism,” JCRC Holocaust Committee Board Chair David Schechter began, in remarks he crafted with Chair Emeritus Rick Mann. “We find ourselves still in disheartening times today,” he continued.
The agenda included musical interludes from the Zachor Choral Ensemble and Gann Academy’s ShenaniGanns student a cappella group. A candle lighting ceremony was presided over by second generation (“2G”) Holocaust descendant Janet Stein Calm, who is president of the American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants of Greater Boston. Calm, accompanied by flutists Bonnie Gibson and Sarah Dinin, spoke of the journey of her father, the late Miklos Stein, who was a Holocaust survivor and World War II veteran. She lit the first candle in memory of the 6 million Jews, including 1.5 million children. Holocaust survivor Jack Trompeter then lit a candle for survivors who had passed away during this past year.
The third candle was lit in memory of longtime Malden residents and Dachau liberators Ralph Leach and William “Bill” Dempsey. On stage, in front of a video screen with the two men’s photos and titles, were five members from both men’s families, along with Malden Mayor Gary J. Christenson. They included Leach’s son Norvin and grandson Finn, who flew from Seattle and Colorado for the event, and Dempsey’s daughter, Mary Ann Boari, who lit the candle.
Leach, a member of the 45th Infantry Division of the Army, earned a bachelor’s degree in science after the war and had a long career as a state bank examiner. Dempsey, a member of the 42nd Infantry (“Rainbow”) WWII Division, was in the Battle of the Bulge and earned a Bronze Medal for single-handedly halting the advance of a surprise German attack on his squad. He was the principal of two Malden schools and was active in veterans’ support and community service work. Today, Corporal William T.J. Dempsey Memorial Square in Malden is named for him.
“My father knew if there was any way that he could ever repay the U.S. soldiers and liberators it would be by becoming a soldier as well, and there are no words to express the depth of our gratitude,” Calm said. “We survivors and children of survivors know that we would not be here today if it were not for the efforts of their fathers and grandfathers. On behalf of us, we thank you for what they did.”
Holocaust survivor Magda Bader, who was there with her descendants, told a grueling story of being whisked away from her small Hungarian town by Nazis at age 14 with her parents, four of her sisters, and a baby to travel for days in a cattle car without food. In the chaos she lost her mother’s hand, and never saw her mother, father or sister with the baby again. She was sent to Auschwitz with three sisters, then to a satellite camp near Bergen-Belsen in 1944 prior to liberation. There, armed guards said they were going to dig a ditch into which they would dump their bodies. But as allies approached, the guards fled, and Bader and her sisters ran into a forest and hid until British soldiers arrived.
Many of us have heard about these atrocities—the hunger, the lice, the beatings—but there is truly nothing like hearing about them from a firsthand witness, in this case a gracious and graceful, small but powerful woman. The audience was simultaneously horrified and spellbound.
Consul General of Israel to New England Benjamin (Benny) Sharoni spoke about the need to counter the increase in antisemitism. “There is no alternative,” he said. Deputy Consul General of Germany to the New England States Anne-Kirsten Wohlleben spoke of the horrors of the past and her country’s pledge for them to never happen again and cited national policies in place to counter antisemitism. She said Holocaust education was mandatory in German schools, and cited national policies in place to counter antisemitism.
In her speech, Wu thanked the consuls general, Goldberg, Christenson, Trompeter, Bader, and the city councilors. “To Magda, to Jack, to all those who have helped ensure that your stories are shaping not only our past but our future, thank you,” she said. “The act of remembering and bearing witness is one of the most important things any community can do.” She told Magda and Jack that she was so grateful for their being part of the community.
“Magda’s story reminds us that Yom HaShoah is not a day for resolution,” Wu said. “It’s a day that asks us year after year to feel the full weight of what happened to the Jewish people, and to let it land without looking for the convenience of closure. Yom HaShoah is also fundamentally a day of resistance, of refusal to let the passage of time dull the truth, and the refusal to let the world forget what human beings are capable of doing to one another.
“So today I’m grateful to be here with you as we renew our sacred, solemn obligation to ensure this kind of atrocity never happens again. The Holocaust began with an erosion of truth, evil systematically used to dismantle institutions and relationships and communities. Places where truth had been shared, and in that vacuum, dangerous lies took hold. Today we are living in a moment where it feels impossible to keep up with the lies. Conspiracy has amassed audiences, the oldest lies about Jewish people are festering once again, and in many places around the country and the world, Jews are being harassed and attacked, killed for who they are.
“Here in Boston, we believe that community, the thing deliberately destroyed back then, is the answer now. Community stands between truth and lies, and that’s why our mission is to make Boston a home for everyone. Because we know that when you’re truly in community with your neighbors, when you have a sense of safety and belonging, ride the same buses, when your kids are sitting in the same classrooms, when you shop at the same small businesses and gather in the same public parks, you build a shared sense of what is real, and what is right. And that kind of connection is much harder to corrupt. When people really know each other, when they have worshipped, and mourned, and celebrated together—yes, when they have shoveled snow together—it becomes harder to convince them that their neighbors are something to fear.
“That spirit of community is alive in this room today and in Greater Boston every day. From the students who take part in the essay contest, to the leaders and educators who make that platform possible, to our survivors who continue to share their stories, to the younger generations who carry the stories forward, we share an understanding that memory, like truth, is a community project.
“Remembering the past isn’t easy work, but it is the only way that we can build a better future. Boston’s Jewish community has been leading that work for generations, and that’s why our city has been and will continue to be one of the safest, most vibrant places for Jewish life in the world.
“Thank you to every person in this room for showing up year after year, day after day, to gatherings like this one and to other moments where there aren’t cameras, where there aren’t large crowds, to keep doing your work of keeping memory, truth, culture and community alive. The City of Boston is proud to be your partner in that work, and we are so grateful to be a community with you today and every day.”
Arbeiter’s son Jack then presented framed certificates to winners of the Israel “Izzy” Arbeiter Holocaust Essay Contest, who this year were Aadya Paathak, Concord Middle School, eighth grade; Andres Watts Cruz, Marblehead Veterans Middle School, eighth grade; Tal Weiss Sadan, Jewish Community Day School, eighth grade: Rex Chen, Hingham High School, 10th grade; Brianna Cohen, Lexington High School, 10th grade; and Hannah Gil, Brookline High School, 9th grade. Each winner receives a trip to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.
Councilor Flynn, whose father, Ray Flynn, was Boston’s mayor from 1984 until 1993 and also served as United States Ambassador to the Holy See from 1993 to 1997, has been a presence at the annual event for many years. Flynn said it was very important for him and appreciated being there, and was grateful when told that his steady and balanced contributions to the agendas of the City Council were appreciated as well.
“Yom HaShoah is a day of remembrance for the 6 million Jews murdered during the Holocaust,” the JCRC program states. “We are committed to preserving their memory and honoring them, as well as the survivors and their families. Yom HaShoah also reminds us of our responsibility to confront rising extremism and antisemitism in all its forms, whenever and wherever it appears. Join the Greater Boston community in remembering, reflecting, and ensuring that the lessons of history echo through the generations.” Many from Massachusetts and beyond are guaranteed to continue to do just that in the years to come.
Following the event, attendees gathered at the New England Holocaust Memorial, together with Boston 3G, IAC, and the Greater Boston community.
JCRC, which is supported by CJP, is committed to honoring the memory of the Holocaust through education, commemoration, and meaningful connection with survivors and their families. Event partners were The American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, the Anti-Defamation League of New England, the American Jewish Committee of New England, Boston 3G, Center Makor, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany to Boston, the Consulate General of Israel to New England, Facing History & Ourselves, Hadassah Northeast, the Israeli American Council, Jewish Family & Children’s Service, Jewish Family Services of MetroWest, the Lappin Foundation, and the New England Friends of the March of the Living.
“If we are to truly honor the memories of the 6 million and pay proper respect to the survivors of humanity’s darkest moment, then we must open our eyes to the reality of our present moment and resoundingly declare ‘Never Again’ as never before,” Schechter said in his remarks. “Let us undertake this commitment as a sacred charge, unified in our purpose and cognizant of the critical importance of our mission. May the memory of the 6 million be forever a blessing.”
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