BRENHAM HAS A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE

  

Saturday was a day of remembrance in Brenham, Washington County and around the world.  It was the newest of the Jewish holidays “Yom Ha’ Shoah,” a day to remember the over six million Jews tortured and murdered in one of the greatest atrocities in world history.

Hundreds gathered  at the Cannery Kitchen, and throughout downtown Brenham, to tell the story of the Nazi holocaust, to pray, speak and ask forgiveness during a march of remembrance.

Holocaust survivor Alex Pallack told of his horrid childhood, living the first 12 years of his life under the threat of Nazi brutality.  He was born in Croatia, but was soon taken to a concentration camp in Italy, not Germany or Poland, and because of that he had a chance to survive.  He told the gathering that only the work of a kind woman saved him from a more dire fate.  Pollack said this was how a very small minority of people can stand up, speak up, and make a humane difference.

Pollack traced his young life from the years of Nazi imprisonment, back to Croatia, and the struggle to survive even after the end of the Second World War.

Then a time for forgiveness.  Dr. Franciska Eckert, whose grandfather was a Nazi guard, said she was ashamed that her grandfather never felt any shame, sadness or need to ask for forgiveness. She said she was there to ask for that forgiveness.

The hundreds, following the lead of flag bearing dancers, marched to the old synagogue on Park Street, then to the Veteran’s Plaza in Fireman’s Park, both to ask for forgiveness and to give thanks to those who served in order to end the holocaust.  Then they went to the Washington County Courthouse to pray for the government.

This was the third time that Jews, Christians, and those with a spirit of kindness and humanity have gathered in Washington County, for this day.