(SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Oct 20, 2023)
The Phoenix Holocaust Association mourns the murder and wounding of thousands of innocent civilians during an unprovoked attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists. We are horrified by the appalling images and testimonies coming out of Israel, which eerily mirror many of the survivor stories we tell in classrooms. We are all now witnesses to the largest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust.
As Holocaust survivors and their descendants, we promote human dignity by inspiring people to speak out and take action against antisemitism, hate, bigotry, intolerance, and discrimination. As such, we, the members of the Phoenix Holocaust Association, call for the immediate humanitarian release of all civilians kidnapped and abducted into Gaza. We pray for peace for our people, and for the security of the state of Israel as we continue to use our voices to educate those in our community about the dangers of unchecked hatred and violence. We stand in solidarity with survivors who made Israel their home after the Holocaust and with whom we now plead that Never Again is NOW. Am Yisrael Chai.
Survivor Quotes:
“Saturday morning, I woke up at 4:00 am. As usual, I tuned in to NPR radio. As I listened to the news reported from Israel I thought I must have had a nightmare. Sadly that was not the case. This tragedy is too much a reminder of our past dark history. Our hearts are broken for all the people so savagely murdered. I can’t get all those precious babies and children out of my thoughts.
May Israel stay strong and may God help Israel through these difficult times.”
-Rise Stillman, Holocaust Survivor and PHA Board Member
“Last weekend’s events remind me of Kristallnacht which, as a six-year old, I personally witnessed from my second floor perch of our Uhlandstrasse apartment in the center of Berlin…so I remember the stench of the synagogue burning a block away, the street strewn with the shards of glass from the broken store fronts across the street, a body or two of the human victims of that night’s Nazi atrocities lying lifeless before me.”
Werner Salinger, Holocaust survivor and PHA Board member
