Not only in Israel, Holocaust Remembrance Day is celebrated in the coming day, the organization of the Jewish Federations in North America has joined other Jewish organizations and will hold a multi-participant online event in memory of the survivors. In 2015, the Federation established the Center for the Welfare of Holocaust Survivors and the Institute for Aging and Trauma. The center has supported over 31,000 thousand survivors over the years and provided thousands of post-trauma treatments, based on data published by the organization which indicates that at least one in three Holocaust survivors in the United States is poor and most of them are from the former Soviet Union.
Just last January, the federation awarded $ 5 million in grants to welfare services for survivors across the United States. The director of my center, Red Wernick, refers to the effects of the war in Ukraine on the survivors – “There is no doubt that the harsh sights of children and women miraculously on their souls are very difficult for survivors, for them it is a return to past experience and not a distant event.” The Center helps survivors with these feelings and Wernick emphasizes that the fact that most caregivers and social workers also come from Ukraine contributes – “they work tirelessly for the survivors, it’s in their minds.”
Today at noon United States time will be held the event, in which in addition to raising the memory of the victims will be dedicated to the recognition of former Soviet immigrants as Holocaust survivors. The keynote speaker at the conference will be Wendy Lauer, an expert on Holocaust events in Ukraine who has even written a book about it. “Our center was established so that we will not forget what happened in the Holocaust and in addition a supreme goal is to provide security and a good life for the Holocaust survivors. I’m glad the federation is taking care of the survivors across the country. ” Mark Wilf concludes President of the Board of Trustees of the Organization of Jewish Federations of North America.
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