Faith, state leaders gather for Holocaust Observance in Raleigh

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — On Sunday, Triangle faith leaders, community members, and state officials gathered for a Holocaust remembrance service to reflect on a dark chapter in history. The event also sought to promote education as a tool to fight a rise in anti-Semitism across the country.

“I think it’s very fearful for us Jews today to see it is repeating,” said Maxine Senet, chairman of North Carolina’s Holocaust Commemoration Planning Committee.

Senet’s parents were both Holocaust survivors.

“The only way that we can continue to make sure and protect that this doesn’t happen again is to educate the future generations,” she said.

Sunday’s event comes amid a spike in anti-Semitic incidents nationally.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, in the three months following the October 7 attacks, there were over 3,200 anti-Semitic incidents reported across the country — more than three times as the same time the year prior.

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“My message was twofold to the Jewish community, stay strong. And I offered encouragement and to the community as a whole,” said Michael Abramson, who chairs North Carolina’s Holocaust Council. “Let’s remember what happens when hatred permeates a community.”

Abramson believes some of the rhetoric put forth since October 7 shows the need for more honest, peaceful conversation.

“I just pray to the other side let’s have peaceful dialog. As I said, calling this about Jews and talking about anti-Semitism is the wrong way to go because you’re turning off the other side to talk,” he said.

As large-scale protests calling for a ceasefire in Gaza reach college campuses across the country — including UNC Chapel Hill — education officials like State Superintendent Catherine Truitt are prioritizing knowledge of this dark period in history.

“I always try to approach difficult topics in education with data,” Truitt said. “We have to equip students when it comes to difficult topics with knowledge.”

Truitt’s been a vocal supporter of the Gizella Abramson Act, which passed in 2021 and mandates Holocaust education in North Carolina’s public middle and high schools, effective this school year.

“If we continue to lift up the importance of Holocaust education, we will continue to eradicate any sort of misinformation that people may have, then turn around and use in the name of free speech,” she said.

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