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The City of Alexandria will host its 37th annual Days of Remembrance ceremony on Tuesday, April 14, honoring the six million Jews and millions of others killed in the Holocaust, with a retired U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum historian set to address attendees.
The free, public ceremony begins at noon in the Frank and Betty Wright Reading Gardens at Charles E. Beatley, Jr. Central Library, 5005 Duke Street. In the event of inclement weather, the event will move indoors to the Beatley Central Large Meeting Room.
Alexandria holds the distinction of being the first municipality in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region to formally observe Holocaust remembrance.
Elizabeth "Barry" White, Ph.D., will serve as the featured speaker. White recently retired from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, where she worked as a historian and research director for the museum's Center for the Prevention of Genocide. Before joining the museum, she spent her career at the U.S. Department of Justice, where she investigated and prosecuted Nazi criminals and other human rights violators. She held the titles of deputy director and chief historian of the Office of Special Investigations, and later deputy chief and chief historian of the Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section.
Mayor Alyia Gaskins and members of the City Council will light a 54-inch solid brass candelabrum during the ceremony — a piece donated to the city by the late Holocaust survivor Charlene Schiff and her husband, Ed. The candelabrum was given in memory of Schiff's parents and sister, as well as the six million Jews and millions of others who perished in the Holocaust. The city also makes the candelabrum available to schools and civic organizations studying the Holocaust.
Alexandria's ceremony is part of the national Days of Remembrance, a weeklong commemoration running Sunday, April 12, through Sunday, April 19. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum leads the national observance under a congressional mandate.
For more information, contact the Department of Recreation, Parks & Cultural Activities at 703-746-5565. To request disability accommodations, contact CherylAnne.Colton@alexandriava.gov or call 703-746-5565, Virginia Relay 711.
