Rainy day today…Gloomy…Miserable…Cold…Uninviting…

I light a remembrance candle and get my cognac out of the bar…No toasts, no smiles, no cheers…Just simple quiet moments to remember everyone who vanished in the nightmare of the Holocaust…Men, women, children, all those innocent people who’s only fault was to be born Jewish. And simply for that they paid with the most amazing gift of all – their life.

Remember – so it will never happen again, taught to me by my parents since I was a little child…Remember, so you prevent this from ever happening again…Remember – so you can educate your children, and children of your children…All the teachings – and you can be absolutely sure - I do remember…Today is a Holocaust Remembrance day…Heartbreaking and dark day, so even Nature cries all day long…

Years have passed…Generations been born…Seasons have changed, warm summer rains turned into nippy snow storms, green grass covering Earth in endless carpet changed by rainbow of Autumn leaves. But millions of innocent souls that disappeared in Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, and Belzec will never enjoy any of it…they vanished…turned into snowfalls of ash…And nothing grew for years at the horrible sites of concentration camps. But life always comes back, life always prevents, and all of the camps today covered in emerald beauty of grass reminding us the most important lesson of all– hatred can not peter out life. So – as sad as this day is – I drink my last toast to life – “LeHaim” – I say with a smile on my face. I did not forget, I will always remember and I do all I can to make sure that this will never happen again!