On Sunday 22nd April I joined the Jewish Community and their guests at a memorial service in the Jewish Cemetery in Rebeccca Street, Pretoria to remember the six million victims of the Holocaust. The lady seated beside me was a past pupil of Holy Family Convent, Yeoville, Johannesburg: her two daughters attended the Dominican Convent in Witbank. We recalled that a famous Jewish lady was also educated by the Holy Family Sisters. Helen Suzmann became a politician and for many years was a lone voice in parliament opposing the apartheid government of the day.

The ceremony began punctually at 10.00 am with the ‘intoning of names of child victims’ which lasted about fifteen minutes. The names, ages and places of death were read in a factual unemotional voice. For those listening it was neither factual nor unemotional: why kill a baby, a year old or an entire family of five ranging in ages from one to seventeen? What about the rest of their families?

A woman recalled how she found out details about her grandfather who was killed in the gas chambers four days before the end of the slaughter of the Jews. Obviously the Nazis kept incredibly detailed information about all their victims: colour of hair, shape of features, skin texture etc. etc. A representative of the Jewish youth recounted his experiences during a pilgrimage to the places in Europe where Jews were massacred.  He gave a graphic description of the camp at Auchwitz: the tons of ashes of human beings who were gassed there, the toys, a small shoe belonging to one of the child victims, the holes in the roof from where the torturers watched as their victims died.

The badge that Jews in Nazi-occupied countries had to wear on their sleeves

This young man also told us how when they were walking along the railway track of the trains which had carried the Jews to the gas chambers, an Israeli aeroplane flew above them to show how easily the victims could have been saved if only the rest of the world had been sufficiently concerned to do something to stop the horror.   This theme of the indifference of the rest of the world was repeated by several other speakers who quoted the well-known statement that the best way for evil to flourish is for good people to keep quiet and do nothing. Tribute was paid to a Swedish diplomat, Raoul Wallenberg, who saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of Jews by giving them Swedish passports. It seems that this man lived in South Africa for some time and there are plans to name a street or a park after him.

While the main purpose of the gathering was ‘to commemorate lives extinguished and draw motivation from their sacrifice’ (Rabbi Gidon Fox) the occasion was used to portray Israel as a democratic state where human rights are respected, and to defend Israel against the attacks being made against her by various governments and organisations including the South African Council of Churches.   The Jewish Community in Pretoria may be small in number but they are a united group and clearly devoted to their faith and their history.

Immaculata Devine rsm
South African Province