Yorktown synagogue marks
somber occasion with special guest

At a special service commemorating the Holocaust, survivor Lola Margulies described what life was like living hidden from the Nazis in an underground bunker for nine months with barely enough air to breathe, and barely enough bread and soup to survive.

More than 100 members of Temple Beth Am in Yorktown gathered on May 1 for a special service for Yom Hashoah, or the Day of the Holocaust. Yom Hashoah is a tradition started in Israel in 1959, now observed worldwide, to remember the horrifying events of the Holocaust, and the bravery of Jews and non-Jews who tried desperately to survive the unspeakable horrors perpetrated by the Nazis.

Members of the congregation marked the solemn day by lighting memorial candles in memory of those who died, and in tribute to those who survived. Mark Levine, of the synagogue’s ritual committee, narrated the lighting of six candles, one for each of the six million Jews who were murdered, saying before each was lit, “Yizkor. We shall remember.”
Rabbi Robert Weiner urged the audience to remember the past, but also to think about the beauty of life, and the fact that we are still here.

Children of the congregation lit memorial candles and read poems written by children in the concentration camps, including one by a 21-year old young man who died in Auschwitz, who watched a butterfly through the barbed wire of the concentration camp. It ends, “I never saw another butterfly. Butterflies don’t live in the ghetto.”

The personal survival story of Margulies, describing the fear and courage of her family and others, is a chilling tale.

In 1939, her family moved to Skalat, a town in eastern Poland. In 1941, when she was 11-years old, the German Army invaded the town and murdered 400 Jews, including. Margulies’ grandfather.

Margulies described the terror of living in hiding in Poland, almost being discovered by the Nazis. Many of their Polish neighbors turned in Jews who were hiding.
The surviving Jews were interned in an overcrowded ghetto, living in deplorable conditions, under constant threat of being deported to death camps.

“We just sat and waited for death,” Margulies said.
Her father arranged for his wife, daughter and other relatives to be hidden underground, although he and his son were sent to a slave labor camp. They ultimately escaped and were able to reunite with the family in an underground bunker, overcrowded with 13 people sharing already-tight quarters, little air, and almost no food.

In 1944, they were liberated by the Russian Army and were taken to the Ukraine where they managed to find housing and enough food to survive. Although the family had hoped to return to their home in Poland, it was not possible. They lived in Vienna until they were able to secure a visa to come to the United States in 1947.

Margulies and her family immigrated to New York when she was 16-years old. Her parents worked hard, and she was able to go to college. She married, had a son, and went back to school, ultimately earning a Ph.D. in genetics. She retired three years ago from the faculty of New York Medical College.

Today, she addresses Jewish and non-Jewish adult audiences, as well as middle and high school students, serving as a resource speaker for the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center.

“I want young people to know what happened and to become activists, helping to prevent any kind of injustice,” Margulies said. She is also very involved in local Democratic politics.
Aaron Bock, president of the congregation, urged everyone, particularly the young people in the audience, to remember these events of heroism and to keep alive the traditions of Judaism by resisting tyranny and hatred, not just of Jews, but of all oppressed people.
“In our own community,” he said, “300 people of all faiths showed their solidarity by speaking out against the recent synagogue desecration in Mohegan Lake. This is not just about anti-Semitism. It is about injustice to any group.”