On Monday, April 20th, Smithtown High School students were recognized by elected officials from Suffolk County, at the annual County-wide Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) Commemoration, coordinated by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Long Island (JCRC-LI). Smithtown East’s Luke Peterson and Brittnay McCaffrey along with Smithtown West’s Sarah Harrington, Ryan Powderly-Gross, Samantha Tannenbaum, Frank Speciale and Victoria Grasso were honored for efforts to create a more civil society. They are volunteering, building ties across different communities, working on inter-generational projects and the like. Each honoree received a citation from an elected official and a certificate from the Jewish Community Relations Council of Long Island.
Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, began on the evening of April 15th and ended in the evening of April 16th of this year. On this day, we reflect on the destruction and atrocities which were committed against the Jewish people during World War II, as a result of the actions carried out by Nazi Germany. During this memorial day, we as a World united, pay special tribute for the six million Jews who perished in one of the most horrific mass genocides in history.
The special event which took place on the campus of Suffolk Community College at the Suffolk Center on the Holocaust, Diversity and Human Understanding, honored Holocaust survivor and Smithtown resident, Werner Reich in addition to awarding the County’s youth. Werner Reich was one of the 96 “Birkenau Boys,” to survive Auschwitz-Birkenau, under the command of the infamous Angel of Death, Josef Mengele.
The 83 year old, former Industrial Engineer, speaks at one hundred schools and synagogues every year regarding the importances of taking action against bullying. His J.U.S.T. campaign, an acronym meaning: Judge Situation, Understand Problem, Solve and Take Action has become an extraordinary movement throughout Suffolk County Schools, teaching students to stand up for one another. Like great leaders in history, including the authors of our Country’s Constitution, Reich teaches younger generations that those with the ability to help someone, also hold the responsibility to take action. His message is a peaceful one, teaching peers to resolve bullying and intolerance in a peaceful manner, never striking back in violence.