Local wall to feature butterflies honoring children who died in Holocaust

March 29, 2010 (San Diego -- Each year, San Diego Jewish Academy hosts a Remembrance Ceremony for Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) in partnership with the New Life Club, a San Diego-based group of Holocaust survivors. The ceremony will focus on honoring the 6 million Jews, 1.5 million of whom were children, murdered in the Holocaust.

Survivors will share their stories with students to ensure that an important part of Jewish history is passed on to the next generation. With most survivors now in their 80s, the event could be one of the last opportunities for students to hear these historically significant individuals’ stories first hand.

The ceremony will include music, photos and speeches. Survivors will also be mounting hand-made ceramic butterflies on a wall dedicated to them for Zikaron V’Tikvah, an artistic and educational project that hopes to create 1.5 million butterflies to honor the children who lost their lives in the Holocaust. The butterflies, which have been sent from all over the world and decorate the SDJA campus, represent hope, remembrance, freedom and the future of Jewish life.

The commemorative event will take place Monday, April 12 from 10 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. at the San Diego Jewish Academy, 11860 Carmel Creek Road, Building A, in San Diego.