Holocaust commemoration on April 16 features music of the Jewish resistance
April 6, 2023 | By Waterbury Roundabout 
Vermont Symphony Orchestra musicians Laura Markowitz, Ana Ruesink, John Dunlop perform as Temple Trio. Courtesy photo
The Jewish Community of Greater Stowe and the Vermont Holocaust Memorial will host their annual Yom HaShoah Holocaust Remembrance Day on Sunday, April 16, with a tribute to the spirit of resistance and a solemn commemoration of the millions of Jewish and other victims of the Holocaust.
Part of the free program is a concert titled “Whispers From the Past” performed by Vermont Symphony Orchestra musicians known as Temple Trio: Laura Markowitz on violin; Ana Ruesink playing viola, and John Dunlop on cello.
Musicologist and child of Holocaust survivor Berta Frank is to host the event.
“For many of the ill-fated inmates of the Theresienstadt (Terezín) concentration camp in Czechoslovakia, and other sites of murder and horror, composing and performing music helped to preserve their souls,” said Debora Steinerman, an event organizer and president and cofounder of the Vermont Holocaust Memorial. “These compositions are vital historical records of a painful time and afford us a glimpse of some of the feelings experienced by many of these prisoners.”
The memorial concert is a testament to the power of music which served as a source of comfort, resistance, and entertainment during the Holocaust, Steinerman noted. “We are grateful to have these Vermont musicians bring back, if only for a few minutes, the sounds and feelings from those who dared to compose such astonishing music, and those who dared to listen and, in their way, fight back,” she said.
The program will include music of composers who perished in the camps, music of composers who lived through the Holocaust, and some Yiddish songs along with memorial prayers and a candle lighting ceremony.
This free Holocaust Remembrance Day program will begin at 4 p.m. at JCOGS, 1189 Cape Cod Road in Stowe. Co-sponsors are the Vermont Holocaust Memorial, Beth Jacob Synagogue, Greater Stowe Interfaith Coalition, and the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. A livestream link will also be available through the online registration site.
More information is online at JCOGS.org or call 802-253-1800.
The Jewish Community of Greater Stowe is a growing unaffiliated congregation embracing all denominations of Jewry. The nonprofit Vermont Holocaust Memorial works to advance Holocaust education throughout Vermont. Beth Jacob Synagogue is an inclusive, community-led congregation that nurtures a range of religious practices and traditions, Jewish values, and Tikkun Olam.
The Greater Stowe Interfaith Coalition includes the Baha’i Faith, Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, Jewish Community of Greater Stowe, St. John’s in the Mountains Episcopal Church, Stowe Community Church, and Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Stowe.