MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Monday is Holocaust Remembrance Day, a day to remember the six million Jewish people killed by Nazis.
This year’s Holocaust Remembrance Day carries a heavier weight than usual for many Jewish people around the world.
At Temple Menorah Olemberg Hall in Miami Beach, a son was hoping to help others through current events by looking back and sharing his own mother’s story as a holocaust survivor.
“I did not know my mother’s story for 54 years, so sitting down and having these conversations, it really brought my mother’s story into focus,” said Joel Waldmen.
Karmela Walden was just 5 years old when she was separated from her parents as the Nazis invaded Europe.
She was eventually reunited with her mother, but her father was led to the Auschwitz gas chamber.
“Unfortunately we did not learn enough from history and we have to teach it to not repeat it, the old cliche is true,” she said.
The duo addressed the growing concern over protests and anti-Semitic acts happening at college campuses across the country, and the overall division of our country after Hamas fighters invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7.
“A lot of young Jewish kids living in fear, but it’s wonderful that (they are) looking for causes and that they are willing to go out to fight,” said Karmela Waldmen.