How can I forget?

Last night Yom HaShoah began in Israel, the day on which the Holocaust is commemorated. Yom HaShoah ended at sunset tonight. Benjamin Philip, director of Hineni Jerusalem, organized an annual Holocaust commemoration, with the support of Christians for Israel.

The evening started with a special meal in the dining room of Hineni. for seventy survivors of the Holocaust as well as seventy Israeli soldiers.

Sharing a meal at Hineni Jerusalem

Commemoration

After dinner  an official commemoration took place on Mount Zion, near the old city of Jerusalem. The Holocaust survivors shared their life stories with the 500 attendees (including 300 soldiers). The commemoration ended with a tour of the Holocaust Memorial Museum, where Benjamin Philip shared the story about his father Andries Philip, who was in his twenties during the war and imprisoned in 8 different concentration camps of the Nazis.

In his speech Benjamin said: ‘How can I forget the Holocaust? I grew up with the painful memories of my parents. How can I forget? I never knew my grandparents, or my uncles and aunts, or my 500 family members who were murdered during the war. How can I forget? I lived in the Netherlands, the country where ninety percent of the Jews were deported and murdered.

That is why it is so important that we remember. That we commemorate the victims of the Holocaust. We can do that here in Israel, on Mount Zion. I feel humble and grateful that God has given me that privilege. I pray that we may continue to build our land with the blessing of God. That we return to Zion. That righteousness will come from Zion, to bless the whole world.’

Benjamin Philip during the Commemoration

Hineni helps people who live in deep poverty with a daily meal.