Holocaust Memorial Museum Vigil

Martine Kaplan — June 11, 2009 – 5:39 pm | Israel | Terrorism Comments (0) Add a comment

Today, the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington (IFC) and Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) held a vigil at the Holocaust Memorial Museum to mourn the death of guard Stephen T. John and speak out in a unified, multi-faith voice against hatred and bigotry. This event was attended by religious leaders of various faiths as well as representatives from the Israeli and German embassies.

Reverend Clark Lobenstine, Executive Director of IFC, introduced the event by saying that “what affects one affects all ... hate has no place in any of our religious traditions.” Ron Halber, Executive Director of JCRC, said the “horrible act this building stands in contradiction to” shows us that “holocaust denial is not just something we have to work on combating abroad ... [holocaust deniers] should be spewed out of American society.” Imam Mohammed Magid, Muslim Vice President of the IFC, told how he is “saddened” to see such an event take place against “students of history” who have come to learn how to stand against such hatred, bigotry and anti-Semitism.

David Schwake, First Secretary of the German Embassy, spoke of his embassy’s close relationship with the Holocaust Museum saying “its mission is as important as ever” as it “reminds us of the danger and evil of racism and anti-Semitism” and how we can “never afford to ignore hate and evil.” Martin Peled-Flax, Minister-Counselor for Domestic Political Affairs in the Israeli Embassy, emphatically stated that “what we saw here yesterday was an incarnation of the fact that Holocaust denial is not just a pernicious ideology,” but something that drives “warped and twisted minds” to violence.

The vigil closed with a several prayers and a singing of “We Shall Overcome” led by Reverend Shannon.

Below are photos I took at the vigil:

Caption: Singing “We Shall Overcome”

 

Caption: Imam Mohammed Magid addresses the vigil

 

Caption: Ron Halber addresses the vigil

 

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