[Archived] City of Alexandria Observes 32nd Annual Days of Remembrance for Victims of the Holocaust

For Immediate Release: April 19, 2019

The City of Alexandria will observe the Days of Remembrance (Yom HaShoah) for the victims of the Holocaust, at noon on Thursday, May 2, in Market Square (301 King St.). Alexandria City Council hosts the annual ceremony as part of the weeklong commemoration of the national Days of Remembrance, this year from April 28 through May 4. This is the 32nd consecutive year the City has held the Days of Remembrance ceremony. The event is free and open to the public. In case of inclement weather, the ceremony will be held in the Vola Lawson Lobby on the first floor of City Hall (301 King St.).  

The speaker this year will be Dr. Edna Friedberg, a historian at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Dr. Friedberg joined the staff of the Holocaust Museum in 1999, and has served as the historian for the Museum’s highly visited online Holocaust Encyclopedia and Director of its Wexner Learning Center. She also curated a special exhibit on the legacy of the Nuremberg trials and postwar justice.

During the ceremony, Mayor Justin Wilson and members of City Council will light a candelabrum that the late Holocaust survivor Charlene Schiff and her husband, Ed, donated to the City. The 54-inch high, solid brass candelabrum was donated in memory of Charlene Schiff’s parents and sister, as well as the six million Jews and millions of others who perished in the Holocaust. The Schiff candelabrum is also made available to schools and civic groups studying the Holocaust.

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum leads the nation in the weeklong Days of Remembrance commemoration, in accordance with Congressional mandate.

For more information on Alexandria’s Days of Remembrance ceremony, visit alexandriava.gov/Recreation, or call 703.746.4343.

For media inquiries, contact Andrea Blackford, Senior Communications Officer, at andrea.blackford@alexandriava.gov or 703.746.3959.

For reasonable disability accommodation, contact anne.odell@alexandriava.gov or 703.746.5419 Virginia Relay 711.