KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tuesday is a solemn day for Jewish communities across the world and in East Tennessee. It's Yom HaShoah — Holocaust Remembrance Day. This day corresponds to the 27th day of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar and marks the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
It's distinct from the International Holocaust Remembrance Day in January and is mostly observed by Jewish communities. According to Bryan Goldberg, the president of the Knoxville Jewish Alliance, "HaShoah" means "Holocaust" in Hebrew.
The Knoxville Jewish Alliance, Jewish Congregation of Oak Ridge and the Tennessee Holocaust Commission said they were hosting an event at JCOR to remember and mourn together. They said Michael Berkowicz, a Holocaust survivor, would also share his story with the community.
There will also be a candle lighting ceremony with candles to take home as part of Holocaust Remembrance Day.
"We get together, we hear stories of the remaining survivors and children of survivors of the Holocaust so that we will never forget," said Goldberg. "If we forget, history is bound to repeat itself. It's as simple as that."
During the Holocaust, more than six million Jewish victims were killed by the Nazi regime in Germany. During the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Jewish residents inside Warsaw resisted German troops and police who tried to deport them, especially to killing centers.
"Globally, antisemitism is skyrocketing. We're seeing skyrocketing levels in Europe, and have for quite a few years and it's something a lot of Jews across the world haven't seen at these levels since the 1930s and 1940s," he said. "Here in America, nationwide, we've seen a 36% increase in antisemitism, year-over-end. In the last four years, we've seen a doubling in the amount of Americans who believe in at least six antisemitic stereotypes, and that's a scary and shocking number. That's doubling the amount of people who believe utter nonsense."
The Warsaw ghetto was the largest Jewish ghetto in German-occupied Europe, according to historians, housing around 400,000 Jewish people. In 1942, the German SS and police units would carry out deportations from the ghetto to the Treblinka killing center, according to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. During the "Great Action," Nazis deported around 265,000 Jews and killed around 35,000 inside the ghetto.
In response, Jewish underground organizations created an armed self-defense unit known as the "Jewish Combat Organization," according to historians. In October, they obtained pistols and explosives from the Home Army in Poland.
A battle erupted in Jan. 1943 between the German SS and police as they tried to continue mass deportations. As a result, deportations were suspended on Jan. 21 and residents started preparing for an uprising.
On April 19, before Passover, it started. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising lasted 27 days and started after the Jewish Combat Organization learned that a final deportation was being planned by the Germans. The Germans brought around 2,000 soldiers and police with artillery and tanks for the deportation.
The Jewish Combat Organization forced them to retreat outside the ghetto wall on the first day of fighting. However, German forces ended up razing the Jewish ghetto. It was the largest Jewish uprising in World War II, and was the first urban uprising in German-occupied Europe, according to the museum.
Anyone who would like to carpool to Oak Ridge can contact the Knoxville Jewish Alliance at 865-690-6343. A Zoom option is also available.
"We want to cherish the memory of those family members and loved ones who perished in the Holocaust, and we also want the world not to forget and to make their memories live on and their lives to have a lasting effect on the world so that nobody, anywhere in the world, will experience anything remotely like that," said Goldberg. "It's not just for us. We look outwardly to all places across the world and to all people who are in harm's way, and who are being persecuted so that our story can a shine a light for their freedom."