On January 31, 2019, over 200 people gathered with Sephardic Heritage International (SHIN) DC in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol at the Gold Room of the Congressional Rayburn building to remember the too-often forgotten Sephardic & Romaniote communities devastated by the Holocaust through the testimonies of local survivors.
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CLICK ON LINK TO SEE VIDEO OF EACH SPEAKER:
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Leila Levi, SHIN DC Board member and President of the Hispanic Bar Association – Opening Remarks. PART 1
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Leah Wolfson, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) – Honoring the memory of Sephardic Jewry killed during the Holocaust and honoring Sephardic survivor Isaac Nehama (Greece / Maryland). PART 2
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The Narrative of Romaniote Survivor Paulette Nehama (Greece / Maryland), Widow of Isaac Nehama – Susan Barocas and Paulette Nehama. PART 3
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Marcia Haddad Ikonomopoulos, Museum Director at Kehila Kedosha Janina – The Sephardic & Romaniote experience during the Holocaust (Greece, including Rhodes and Ioannina, and the Balkans). PART 4
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Franz Afraim Katzir, SHIN DC Board member and Director in collaboration with Cynthia Flash Hemphill – Finding a voice like Anne Frank’s in the Sephardic world (Claire Barkey’s letters in ‘A Hug From Afar’). PART 5
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The Narrative and Songs of Survivor Flory Jagoda (Bosnia / VA) – Janet Dunkelberger & Heather Spence, founding members of Laz Tiyas women’s Ladino singing group, mentored by Flory Jagoda. PART 6
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Narrative of Miriam Zuares (Libya / Israel / Maryland) – Miriam Zuares. PART 7
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Narrative of Viviane Hayoun Bloodworth (France / Tunisia / Maryland) – ‘One Hour’: The story of her escape from France to her parents’ birthplace of Tunisia, where Jewish men were conscripted for almost 40 detention camps and forced labor areas run by the Germans and the Italians – Viviane Hayoun Bloodworth. PART 8
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Violet Battat, SHIN DC Board member – Violet’s namesake: Surviving the Farhud in Iraq. PART 9
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Holocaust survivors are acknowledged and they, as well as other special guests and dignitaries light flames to remember all who perished and survivors no longer with us. Rabbi Nissim Elnecavé, Sephardic Jewish Brotherhood of America sings Agadel’kha and says Qaddish (Mourner’s Prayer, said in honor of the deceased) during the lighting. PART 10
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Shlomo Bolts, SHIN DC Board member – Closing remarks on taking a stand against anti-Semitism in all of its forms. PART 11
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Robert Capon, SHIN DC member – Remarks on SHIN DC. PART 12 (video to be added)
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Photography Exhibit ‘Sephardic & Romaniote Experiences of the Holocaust and WWII’ co-curated by Franz Afraim Katzir of Sephardic Heritage International (SHIN) DC, Danya Dayanim of SHIN DC, and Marcia Haddad Ikonomopoulos of Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue and Museum.
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CONGRESSIONAL SPONSOR: Jamie Raskin Partners
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SPONSORS: Sephardic Heritage International DC (SHIN DC); The Embassy of Israel; The Sephardic Jewish Brotherhood of America; Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue & Museum.
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SEPHARDIC HERITAGE INTERNATIONAL (SHIN) DC builds intercultural bridges while raising awareness of Sephardic and other underrepresented Jewish heritages and the cultures arts and history of the Middle East, North Africa, Greece, the Balkans, the Iberian Peninsula and Central & Western Asia (www.shindc.org)
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