Holocaust Remembrance Day Ceremony features ‘Paper Clips’ director

Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah) commemorates the annihilation of 6 million Jews, along with people of many nations who perished in the Holocaust as a result of the extreme racist attitudes, policies and actions carried out by Nazi Germany and its collaborators.  The day also celebrates the heroism of Jewish resistance during this period.

This year’s commemoration will take place at Temple Emanu-El, in Providence, on April 11 at 7 p.m. This annual program emphasizes the depth of loss that Jews and other groups, including gays, Roma, communists and other political opponents, experienced in the Holocaust. It is a collaboration between the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island, the Sandra Bornstein Holocaust Education Center, the Rhode Island State Council of Churches, the Greater Rhode Island Board of Rabbis  and Temple Emanu-El. The ceremony is multi-denominational and all are invited to attend.

The ceremony begins with a deeply moving candle-lighting procession of survivors (including second-generation survivors) accompanied by the reading aloud of the names of family members lost in the Holocaust. All this is set to reflective music performed by noted harpist Judie Tenenbaum.

This year’s featured speaker is Joe Fab, the Emmy-nominated producer, writer and co-director of “Paper Clips.” Named one of the top five documentaries of 2004, this film tells the story of The Paper Clips Project in which middle-school students in a small town in Tennessee who studied the Holocaust set out to collect more than 6 million paper clips to get an idea of the scope of the genocide.

Paper clips were chosen, in part, because Norwegians wore them on their lapels as a symbol of resistance to Nazi occupation during World War II. What started as a project to teach students about tolerance became a worldwide phenomenon when the student collected over 24 million paper clips sent to them by people from 20 different countries. It resulted in the creation of a museum and permanent memorial in the town of Whitwell, Tennessee.

Through the One Clip at a Time Foundation, Fab is working with executive producer Matthew Hiltzik and his team  on “One Clip at a Time,” a follow-up documentary that looks at what has happened in the years since “Paper Clips.”

The ceremony will also feature the debut of an original piece of music composed by Judith Lynn Stillman, pianist, composer, artist-in-residence and professor of music at Rhode Island College.  She has performed throughout the world, including at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Tanglewood and the Grand Teton Festival. She has been a visiting guest artist at major conservatories in China, Russia and the Czech Republic

The annual Never Again Award will be presented by Holocaust survivor Alice Eichenbaum to Arthur Robbins in recognition of his contribution to Holocaust education and commitment to making “Never Again” a reality.

Arthur Robbins has been involved with the Holocaust Education Center from the beginning, said May-Ronny Zeidman, executive director. “He is an all around wonderful human being. The world is a better place because of Arthur.”

LEV POPLOW is a communications and development consultant. Contact him at levpoplow@gmail.com.