We Remember: Preserving the Living Memory of the Holocaust

Time does not carry memories forward. People do.

A Holocaust survivor (Benno Gerson United States Naval Academy Class of ‘61) and other descendants of Holocaust survivors carried their memories forward to be shared with the Annapolis area Jewish community at Kol Shalom Synagogue in April.

Thank you for joining us, Deputy Governor, Anne Arundel County Executive, Mayor Littman of Annapolis, City Councilman Frank Thorp IV (USNA Class of 81), USNA Command Chaplain Rob Johnson, his Deputy, LCDR Marlin Williams, and a strong turnout from the USNA Jewish Midshipmen Club and Friends of the Jewish Chapel (FOJC).

Proud to represent the Jewish War Veterans of the USA Foundation as a member of USNA 83, posing in front of the synagogue’s Tree of Life with Benno, in the lower center.

Thank you to the Anne Arundel County Police Department for your outstanding professionalism and (sadly, necessary) event protection.

After witnessing the horrors of the Ohrdruf concentration camp in April 1945, General Eisenhower ordered, “Get it all on record now – get the films – get the witnesses – because somewhere down the road of history some bastard will get up and say that this never happened.” Thank you to my Israeli friend, Ret. General Amir Avivi אמיר אביבי who shared the AI-generated image on the lower right with the note: “Our living memory requires all of us to understand and remember that we do not choose swords and weapons as tools of death, but as tools of life.”

On International Holocaust Day, We Remember.