Holocaust Days of Remembrance

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Brenton Keay
  • Air Force Sergeants Association
MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. --  Congress established the Days of Remembrance as the nation's annual commemoration of the Holocaust and created the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as a permanent living memorial to the victims. Holocaust remembrance week for 2014 is April 27 through May 4. Days of Remembrance are observed by state and local governments, military bases, workplaces, schools, churches, synagogues and civic centers.

To commemorate and bring attention to the plight of those not seen as the "pure and perfect race" or often called "the final solution," several posters will be displayed and free films will be shown at the base theater. Showings will be April 28 through May 2. There will be both documentaries and nonfictional movies, which pertain to the Holocaust.

All movies and documentaries will begin at 7 p.m. The following is a list of free movies being shown:

APRIL 28 - Defiance (R): Jewish brothers in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe escape into the Belarussian forests, where they join Russian resistance fighters and endeavor to build a village in order to protect themselves and about 1,000 Jewish non-combatants.

APRIL 29 - Nazi Germany Death Mills (Documentary): Intended for German audiences to educate them about the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime.
Concentration Camps (Documentary): Authentic film of the conditions found in Nazi concentration camps.

APRIL 30 - No Place on Earth (Documentary): A cave exploration in Ukraine leads to the unearthing of a story of World War II survivors who once found shelter in the same cave.

MAY 1 - Band of Brothers "Why We Fight" (R): As Nixon scrounges for his favored whisky, VAT 69, Easy Company enters Germany. A concentration camp near Landsberg is discovered by a patrol. This sight leaves many soldiers both shocked and disgusted witnessing what happened to the people at the hands of the Nazis.

Escape from Auschwitz (Documentary): The death factory at Auschwitz was a closely guarded secret of the Third Reich - until two men, Rudolph Vrba and Alfred Wetzler, escaped to tell the world about the Nazi atrocities.

MAY 2 - The Pianist (R): A Polish Jewish musician struggles to survive the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto of World War II.

In addition to the free movie showings which will be throughout the week, there will be a name reading event at the Grizzly Bend on May 1. Starting at 8 a.m., there will be an opening ceremony to commemorate the Holocaust followed by a name reading. There will be welcoming remarks, an invocation, a candle-lighting ceremony, a brief video and then various Airmen throughout the wing will begin reading aloud 5,000 names of those who perished during the Holocaust. Unfortunately, there is no single list of those known to have perished during the Holocaust. The list of names being read aloud from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. is but a small sample of names taken from archival documents at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

If you have time, please come out and look over the posters, which will be located throughout the main room in the Grizzly Bend. The posters will discuss events that happened during the Holocaust and also some of those who perished during this time. You are also encouraged to come and sit at any time during the day to listen and reflect on the names being read of those who perished during the Holocaust.