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While most towns hold annual memorials for the Holocaust at Jewish day schools or synagogues, the city of Bayonne gives its entire community the chance to commemorate Yom Hashoah.

Each year since 1979, Bayonne has been the only municipality in New Jersey to hold its Holocaust remembrance ceremony at City Hall, according to several public officials at this year's event last month. Former Mayor Dennis P. Collins started the tradition, which has been passed on all the way to current mayor Mark Smith.

"All leaders at the city, state, and federal level have the responsibility to make sure that the evils of the 20th century don't take place again," Smith said.

Nearly 200 people gathered on Sunday, April 19 in Bayonne's City Council Chambers for remarks from political and religious officials, presentations by students from Bayonne High School, and a candle-lighting ceremony with Holocaust survivors.

"We really think of it as a tribute to the diversity of the town," said Alan Appelbaum, president of the UJA Federation of Bayonne. "The mayors who have passed through here have always been gracious about this. I'm glad we can reach out to people other than our own."

Appelbaum was one of this year's 28 members on Bayonne's Holocaust Committee, chaired by Laurie Sokol. The ceremony began with a color guard presentation by the War Veterans of Bayonne, in addition to the Israeli and American national anthems.

Rabbi Gordon Gladstone, from local Temple Beth Am, spoke on behalf of Bayonne's Interfaith Clergy.

"Each individual, whatever race, creed, or religion, must pass on the story of the Holocaust from generation to generation," Gladstone said. "Jews, Christians, and Muslims, all in their good will, must work together for peace."

The keynote presentation was given by Gene Woods, a World History teacher at Bayonne High who taught his 11th grade students the Holocaust this year through Elie Wiesel's book "Night". Woods offered students several categories to express their feelings after reading, including journal entries, analytical essays, poems, or skits.

Seven of Woods' students read pieces of their work at the program, but one of them, Rebecca Turner, also presented a separate essay that she submitted for a writing contest at Bayonne High. Students were asked to suggest the best contemporary approach to Holocaust remembrance during a generation when survivors eventually pass away.

Turner emphasized the importance of hands-on experiences rather than simply delving into texts, recommending initiatives such as school trips to the Holocaust museum in Washington, D.C., annual memorial services for all members of a city's population, and various other forms of visual and audio learning.

As the winner of the essay contest, Turner was presented with a $1,000 U.S. Treasury Bond by Ruth Preminger, a longtime Bayonne resident and prominent UJA Federation donor.

"The research and serious thought put in by the students becomes embedded in their memories," Preminger said.

Bayonne isn't the only part of Hudson County that takes Holocaust education seriously, as Jersey City's public school system takes a group of 11 students each year on a trip to visit concentration camps in Poland. In one of the most diverse regions of America, County Executive Thomas DeGise knows how important Holocaust remembrance is within the broad context of human rights issues.

"As the executive of one of the most diverse counties in the nation, I get invited to a lot of events for cultural or religious purposes and I can't make them all. But this one I don't miss," DeGise said of Bayonne's Holocaust program.

Holocaust survivors Victor Friedman, Sally Friedman, Luba Woloski, Katie Berces, and Regina Resnick all participated in the lighting ceremony, while Woods lit the final candle. The program ended with the El Moleh Rachamim prayer and Kaddish.

"It starts with the people at the bottom and goes up to the top of the community, in city hall," Woods said of Holocaust remembrance in Bayonne. "[This program] really opens things up for the whole community to come in and express their feelings."

"It means that the fathers of our city felt strongly enough about our cultures and religions," added Dr. Ellen Goldberg, executive director at the Bayonne Jewish Community Center. "There are people from many different backgrounds here, but we are all together."