Jan 27, 2025
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — January 27, 2025, marks 80 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camps in 1945. The events of the Holocaust still echo throughout history and into the present day. For many, the Holocaust can seem like a distant memory — but for others, it's impossible to ignore. It seeps into their daily lives through personal loss and collective cultural trauma. The groups most affected stress the importance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day as a way to remind people so they never forget. "You read stories, read books. You sort of feel detached, to where it almost seems like fiction," Shmulik Greenberg, Rabbi at Chabad of Wichita, said. Rabbi Greenberg is the descendant of survivors. The sheer scale of the loss and distance from the present, can make the Holocaust seem surreal. He uses Remembrance Day as one of reflection. Remembering culture, family and friends all violently stripped away. Google Maps to rename ‘Gulf of Mexico’ to ‘Gulf of America’ Wichita business owner Michael Marks calls attention to an often forgotten target of the Nazi's extermination campaign: his Romani ancestors. "What Hitler did, what he wanted to do to the Rom community, he got a way with exterminating us all, almost," Marks said. The horror of the events left untold impact on many outside of those named in the Final Solution. Following the Nuremberg Trials, attorney Robert Kaplan started his law career. Now, he's nearly 92 years old and still practicing. "I got so interested. I went to Nuremberg solely for the purpose of seeing the courthouse where the trials took place," Kaplan said. During his career in the 1950s and '60s, he represented survivors of the Holocaust, recalling their stories. "One gentleman escaped into the forest surrounding the camp and joined the French Underground and became a saboteur. They blew up Nazi railroads, Nazi ammunition dumps," Kaplan said. Game wardens: You can’t fish for paddlefish in Arkansas River Harrowing stories are commonplace among the descendants of survivors. "The Nazis came to my grandfather's little town, it's called a Stadt, and they rounded up the Jews and put them in the Synagogue, and they bolted it," Rabbi Greenberg said. "[They said] the town was too small to deal with right away, but they're going to come back tomorrow, and they're going to burn it down." His is one story that doesn't end in tragedy. "A friend, a Gentile — he wasn't Jewish — he came by and unbolted the Synagogue and said, 'just run,'" Rabbi Greenberg said. The families of Bob Kaplan's clients were often not as fortunate. "It's hard to talk about. I have a lot of people ask me about it. I said, 'I just can't. I'd like to tell you, but [we'd] just end up with wet eyes," Kaplan said. The tragedy of their lives only emphasizes how important it is to remember and never to repeat. Kaplan is heading up a project to establish a permanent memorial in Wichita dedicated to Holocaust remembrance. He says if he doesn't get the donations necessary, he'll pay for it out of his own pocket. He takes checks sent to his law office. Kaplan and his team say that a physical reminder is much more hard-hitting than any movie or book. ...read more read less
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