2022 Yom Hashoah Commemoration

Branded Degenerate: Voices Silenced

Wednesday, April 27 | 5:30 p.m. reception, 6 p.m. program

A reception starts at 5:30 p.m. with light refreshments and an opportunity to view the exhibit “Lost Voices: Greek Jews and the Holocaust.” Reservations are required.

This lecture-recital features music for saxophone, voice and piano by Erwin Schulhoff, as well as I Never Saw Another Butterfly by Ellwood Derr, a song cycle on poems written by children killed in the Holocaust.

Presented by Amanda DeMaris (soprano), Christopher Creviston (saxophone) and Hannah Creviston (piano), this lecture-recital will open with music by Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942), a Jewish composer who was killed in the Holocaust. Schulhoff was highly influenced by the American jazz scene and was one of the first composers to really synthesize jazz and classical music. Schulhoff’s Hot-Sonate for saxophone and piano is an excellent representation of this compositional style. DeMaris will perform selections from the abundance of Schulhoff’s Lieder, which range from atonal to popular and avant-garde to political.

The final piece on the program is I Never Saw Another Butterfly by Ellwood Derr (1932-2008). This song cycle, written in 1977, is composed on poems written by children who were imprisoned at the Theresienstadt concentration camp. The children were all later transported to Auschwitz where they were murdered.

Through the presentation and performance of these works, we strive to keep alive the stories, art and legacy of those killed in the Holocaust.

Candle-lighting ceremony

The in-person program will begin a candle-lighting ceremony remembering the victims of the Holocaust.
Featured guest is Holocaust survivor Bodo Schrader. 

Bodo Schrader was born in Magdeburg, Germany, on Nov. 11, 1941. He was just a baby when his mom
was transported to Auschwitz. At 4 years old,  he arrived unaccompanied at the Theresienstadt concentration camp  and was soon liberated. In 1949, Bodo went to Munich, Germany and immigrated to the United States. He was later adopted by a Jewish family and has called New Hampshire home for many years.

The free program is designed for those who are fully vaccinated for COVID-19; masks are optional. Guidelines are subject to change based on CDC recommendations. Reservations are required, space is limited. 

‘Lost Voices: Greek Jews and the Holocaust’

About the exhibit: The German Nazi forces entered Salonika in April 1941. Following two years of punishing measures directed at the 56,000 Jews in the city, such as the wearing of the Yellow Star and the robbing of all their belongings, the Jewish population was then restricted to specific areas. On March 15, 1943, the first deportation took place. This exhibit focuses on how the Shoah affected the Jews of Greece, one of the oldest Jewish communities, going back to the middle of the first century. The exhibit will also be available to view, by appointment, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday, April 25 and Tuesday, April 26 at the East Valley JCC. Registrations are required and a limited number of people will be able to view at one time. Sign up to view the exhibit on April 25 and April 26 here. 

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