CLEVELAND — Yom Hashoah V’Hagvurah, or, Holocaust & Heroism Remembrance Day, has its roots in Israel but is now a tradition for many Jewish Americans, including the Jewish Federation of Cleveland.

What You Need To Know

  • The Jewish Federation of Cleveland and the Kol Israel Foundation said, this year, they’re focusing on ‘then and now,” and are looking back at history through a multigenerational lens
  • It’s been nearly a century since the start of the Holocaust, during which, the Nazi regime systemically murdered more than 6 million Jews

Harry Abraham was less than 1 year old the evening of Nov. 9, 1938. The night is now recognized as Kristallnacht in Germany, or the “Night of Broken Glass.”

Soon after, Abraham’s father was transported to a labor camp; his only crime was his Jewish faith. 

“I was laying in my crib. I was eight months old. Glass came through the window and shattered all over me. My mother picked me up. Glass went to the ground,” Abraham said.

Abraham has been living in northeast Ohio for almost 80 years. He moved to the United States in 1947 after he and his parents moved to Shanghai, China, to escape the Holocaust.

“They were able to get exit visas to leave from Frickhofen and go to Genoa, Italy, and wound up three weeks later on a steamship in Shanghai,” he said.

This Wednesday, like other days of the year, Abraham said he’s speaking out to accomplish the same mission.

“Not to forget Kristallnacht, because Kristallnacht was really the night where the whole world understood what Hitler and Germany was all about, and did very little,” Abraham said. “I go back to Germany … I try to maintain the cemeteries and maintain the artifacts.”

Still, Abraham isn’t the only shedding light on a dark side of history.

(Left to right) Daughter Marcy Rosenthal, Harry Abraham and his granddaughter Erica Hirsh.
(Left to right) Daughter Marcy Rosenthal, Harry Abraham and his granddaughter Erica Hirsh. (Spectrum News 1/Tanya Velazquez)

“I also am on a mission, like my father, to not only preserve and share my family's story, but to commemorate the Holocaust and Kristallnacht so that we never forget,” said Abraham’s daughter Marcy Rosenthal.

Abraham’s granddaughter Erica Hirsh said, now more than ever, it is crucial these stories be kept alive.

“Today, we experienced anti-Semitism many years ago when this happened, and now we're unfortunately experiencing it today,” Hirsh said.

As the community comes together for a night of remembrance, Abraham said education is key to achieving equity for all people.

“I'm not just talking against the Jewish people or against the Palestinians and what's happening in Gaza,” Abraham said. “ I want everybody to live in peace, and if [there’s] anything to take away from this, let's get together and live together.”