Holocaust Remembrance Day
JOBURG - THIS year marks the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and other Nazi death camps.
On 16 April, the South African Jewish Board of Deputies will once again be holding its annual Day of Remembrance Ceremony in memory of the six million Jewish martyrs who perished at the hands of the Nazis during World War II.
The ceremony will take place at the Martyrs’ Monument in the Jewish section of West Park Cemetery at 12:30.
Guest speaker this year is Hugo Marom, now 86, who was born in Brno, Czechoslovakia. He and his brother Ruby were among the Jewish children saved by Sir Nicolas Winton and were transported on the Kindertransport to London. His parents died in a concentration camp.
In 1944, Hugo joined the RAF to become a fighter pilot and was then sent back to Prague with his brother to join the Czech Air Force. In 1953, he was asked to form the 110th night fighter squadrons, and six years later led the development of Israel Aircraft Industries. In 1964, he left the army and founded a company for the construction and design of airports, which leads to the present day.
In 2011, Marom received the Gratias Agit award for promoting the Czech Republic’s good name abroad. Hugo married Martha, a survivor of six concentration camps, and had a daughter.
Included in this ceremony, Marsha Schaimberg, a Polish survivor from Auschwitz living in South Africa, will also be relating her story as well as her return to Auschwitz to take part in the 70th anniversary Commemorative Ceremony on 27 January this year,
