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The Henry Ricklis Holocaust Memorial Committee held their annual Yom Hashoah program in dedication to the rescuers of Jews in the Holocaust, on April 19 at the Monroe Township High School.

The program was sponsored by the Jewish Congregations of Concordia and Clearbrook, Greenbriar at Whittingham, the Monroe Township Jewish Center, the Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex County, and second-generation Holocaust survivors.

Many survivors were in attendance along with their family, local dignitaries, the Jewish War Veterans, and many others. The memorial began with survivors, family of survivors, and high school students walking into the auditorium in a procession. There was also a menorah lighting ceremony for survivors and family of survivors and two students, Kayla Eisenberg and Sarah Nale from the high school, both read essays they wrote about the Holocaust.

Nina Wolff, the chair of the Henry Ricklis Committee, spoke about Irena Sendler, one of the famous rescuers of the Holocaust. Sendler always put the lives of the children above her own, Wolff said. Sendler's life as an activist began when she attended Warsaw University and they tried to segregate the Jews there.

"As a pro-Jewish activist, Irena was suspended from Warsaw University for three years," Wolff said.

She became extremely active in the resistance and by 1939, she had created more than 3,000 false documents for Jews to flee the Nazi persecution. In addition to false documents for other people, she created ones for herself saying she was a Polish social worker, which allowed her to go into the Warsaw Ghetto.

Her code name in the resistance was Yolanda, Wolff said. Once she entered the ghetto, her real work began.

"Irena Sendler saved 2,500 children from the Warsaw ghetto," Wolff said.

She would smuggle the children out of the ghetto in any way possible. She would hide them in baskets, blankets, floorboards, and even drug them, Wolff said. Shockingly, she took all of the children while the Gestapo was right there watching. Once she got them out of the ghetto, she found Christian families, churches, and convents to hide the children.

"She let all of the helpers and caregivers of the Jewish children know that she planned to reunite them with their rightful families and return them to the Jewish faith when the war was over," she said.

The Nazis captured Sendler in 1943 and tortured her, breaking her legs, arms, and feet. However, no matter what the Nazis did to her, she refused to say where the children were. She went on to save many more children and lives throughout her life.

According to Wolff, Sendler always said: "If you see someone drowning you must rescue them even if you cannot swim. Every child saved with my help is a justification for my existence on this earth and not a title to glory."

The keynote speaker was Birma Gerenstein Goldstein, the daughter of Staff Sgt. Irving Gerenstein, who liberated a concentration camp in 1945. Gerenstein was an American Jewish soldier who went overseas in April 1944.

"One morning, after coming off of a 4 a.m. shift, dad suggested that they take a walk to explore the area outside of where they were stationed," Goldstein said.

They arrived upon the edge of a town where there were a large group of trees, she said. After clearing trough the trees they found a road that led to a place with barbed wire and gun posts.

"He told his men to place their rifles on, fix their bayonets, and be prepared for anything, thinking the Germans may still be there," Goldstein said.

When they arrived, they saw groups of people and a door that was locked. He immediately told one of his soldiers to shoot the lock off. As he walked in the room, the first thing Gerenstein noticed was the Star of David hanging from the clothing of the people and it made him want to cry, she said.

"Not knowing their uniform, the detainees stared back at the soldiers frightened," Goldstein said.

Then he approached one of the men and asked him in German who he was and where the Germans were. He replied that the Germans ran into the woods days ago, and his name was Shmuel. Gerenstein then began to speak in Yiddish to Shmuel and the look of confusion and fear went away from Shmuel's face and joy swept over him.

"He said 'I am a Jew and we are here to save you'," she said. "Shmuel smiled for the first time in a long time and shouted to the others, 'the Americans are here'."

Goldstein said no matter how much bloodshed and hardships the soldiers saw in battle, they could never had prepared for what they saw that day. These people needed food, clothing, and medical attention immediately. Gerenstein and his soldiers gave them food, chocolate, and clothing, she said.

"Unfortunately, dad later found out this was not the right thing to do," she said. "Although it was an act of kindness, the food could have been too strong for their skeletal bodies and the rations too rich for their stomachs."

Before Gerenstein left the camp to go back to his base, Shmuel thanked him and took from his pocket a crumpled piece of paper, which was a letter to his uncle, a rabbi in Arizona. He asked him to mail it to him and to add that he was finally free. Gerenstein mailed the letter and eventually received a thank-you letter with chocolate from his uncle.

"Dad said, 'Perhaps we'll meet one day, but in better times'," Goldstein said.

There were two things that Gerenstein always regretted no doing when he liberated the camp, she said. He never asked them if they wanted to say Kaddish and he never found out the name of the camp.

"My father for years to come always reflected on seeing that surprised look on Shmuel's face, when dad told him in Yiddish that he was an American soldier and he was now free," she said.

Goldstein said besides his family, his proudest accomplishment in his lifetime was liberating the camp. Gerenstein, who died a few weeks ago at the age of 89, always told his story because he wanted people to never forget.

Laurie Warren, Gerenstein's other daughter said her father was very proud of what he did and we must continue to remember the Holocaust and always tell stories like his.

"My father was here in spirit," Warren said.