Melville Ceremony Remembers Anne Frank

Anne Frank, the German Jewish teen whose diary recounting her life in hiding from the Nazis became her legacy and world-wide phenomenon, was commemorated Friday in a ceremony that also honored a woman who survived the Holocaust and now teaches about its horrors.

The commemoration at Arboretum Park in Melville featured prayers, songs that urged listeners to practice love, not hate, a callout to the audience of  “Never Again” as a reminder of the Holocaust, and the words of 93-year-old Rosalie Simon.  The Czech Jewish woman read from letters she had received from people who had learned about the  terrors and depravity of the Holocaust from her. She described her own questions about why the Allies didn’t bomb the railroad tracks that were transporting Jews and others to the death camps.

The crowd also sang Happy Birthday to her; she will turn 94 on July 25.

Students Alexa Nissenbaum and Chloe Swartz, talked about the lessons of resiliency and strength they have learned from Simon, through the Names, Not Numbers program at the Suffolk YJCC. The program combines research, journalism, and video production to create documentaries about Holocaust survivors.

Harry Arlin also spoke. He has his own astonishing biography that includes being captured by Italian soldiers and put into a camp; liberation by British soldiers, and signing up with the British Army in time to be a part of the Normandy invasion and helping liberate a concentration camp.

Post 488 of the Jewish War Veterans presented the colors, while Toby Tobias sang. Rabbi Jeff Clopper of Temple Beth El in Huntington led the prayers, while Town Supervisor presided over the program.