Elmhurst History & Cemeteries Preservation Society (EHCPS), Inside Elmhurst, Historic Districts Council, and local residents held a candlelight vigil in front of the Walentyna Janta House in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day.The event outside the home at 88-28 43rd Avenue attracted over 30 attendees on what is also the anniversary of the Warsaw uprising, a major WWII operation in 1944.Guest speakers included Rabbi Eli Blokh of Chabad of Forest Hills North, event organizer Alfonso Quiroz of Inside Elmhurst, and Leon Sherman, a 102-year-old Queens resident who survived five concentration camps, including Auschwitz.Rabbi Blokh called Sherman “a living testament to the fact that resistance is not only with guns, but is with the spirit and the soul and with love and hope.” “Leon is a survivor and a fighter in all those senses, and his faith keeps him alive,” he said. “People like Leon and Mrs. Janta show by example that heroes are those who make the right choices, even when everyone else around them is making the wrong choices.” Sherman showed the “B2593” mark that was imprinted on his arm by the Nazis. “They told us you have a number, no name,” he said. “Whenever they call this number, you have to answer. They told us the only way out is through the chimney. I saw the chimney burning day and night.”

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Elmhurst History & Cemeteries Preservation Society (EHCPS), Inside Elmhurst, Historic Districts Council, and local residents held a candlelight vigil in front of the Walentyna Janta House in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day.The event outside the home at 88-28 43rd Avenue attracted over 30 attendees on what is also the anniversary of the Warsaw uprising, a major WWII operation in 1944.Guest speakers included Rabbi Eli Blokh of Chabad of Forest Hills North, event organizer Alfonso Quiroz of Inside Elmhurst, and Leon Sherman, a 102-year-old Queens resident who survived five concentration camps, including Auschwitz.Rabbi Blokh called Sherman “a living testament to the fact that resistance is not only with guns, but is with the spirit and the soul and with love and hope.” “Leon is a survivor and a fighter in all those senses, and his faith keeps him alive,” he said. “People like Leon and Mrs. Janta show by example that heroes are those who make the right choices, even when everyone else around them is making the wrong choices.” Sherman showed the “B2593” mark that was imprinted on his arm by the Nazis. “They told us you have a number, no name,” he said. “Whenever they call this number, you have to answer. They told us the only way out is through the chimney. I saw the chimney burning day and night.”


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