Hurlburt Field hosts Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony

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  • By Raquel Sanchez
  • 1st Special Operations Wing Public Affairs
HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. --  Team Hurlburt members gathered at the 505th Training Squadron Auditorium to hear the stories of rescuers, survivors and victims of the Holocaust during a remembrance ceremony April 12.

Four speakers spoke about how their families were part of the event which claimed the lives of more than six million people.

"Edmund Burke, an Irish statesman and philosopher stated, 'All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing'," said Col. Mustafa Koprucu, commander of 505th Command and Control Wing. "When we take time out to remember the past, we are doing something that is inherently human."

The 2012 Days of Remembrance theme honors the actions of rescuers, those who saw injustice and chose to make a difference by aiding Jewish people, despite the risks.

Joseph Callewaert, author of "Lights Out for Freedom" and a rescuer, gave a first-hand account of growing up among the upheaval of war and his participation in helping to rescue more than 100 young Jewish men.

Callewaert also talked about the "Last Transport to Auschwitz," the last transport train to the concentration camp carrying more than 1,000 people, including the family of Anne Frank. Only 127 would survive, as many were sent to gas chambers the same day.

He ended with a short film documenting the departure of a similar transport from Westerbork in the Netherlands to a concentration camp. The film provided an illustration of how people were treated during a deportation.

"Never forget, never again," Callewaert said.

Dr. Lori Ripps, a child of Holocaust survivors, shared her parents story of hope and survival.

At age 14, Ripps' mother Molly and her 15-year-old sister were torn away from their parent's side and taken to a camp, never to see their parents or two brothers alive again. Although Molly and her sister survived, they would not learn the fate of their family members until after their liberation years later.

Ripps' father Leon was only 17 when he said goodbye to his parents and five other siblings to go hide in the woods to escape capture. Despite his pleas, his parents refused to join him. The next day, the Jewish people in his town were picked up, his entire family, including his grandparents, dozens of aunts, uncles and cousins, perished at Auschwitz within 48 hours.

After months of hiding in the woods, Leon was captured and taken to a forced labor camp where he was beaten, starved and nearly worked to death. He was 20 years old and weighed only 86 pounds when he was liberated in 1945.

"These are just a few of the many details and accounts of my parents experiences," Ripps said. "Most are unfathomable, beyond comprehension involving man's inhumanity to man."

During the ceremony, Ripps' daughter Hannah sang a version of "Ani Maamin," or "I Believe," in Hebrew which became known as the hymn of the Jewish people in concentration camps.

The guest speakers all agreed that as a nation, Americans are reminded to never forget.

"Many survivors are no longer with us, and very soon it will be our responsibility to keep their memories with us and keep their stories alive," Ripps said. "We must make sure to honor those who perished in vain and to never let this happen again."

The ceremony concluded with a Jewish prayer, the "Kaddish" or "Mourner's Prayer," in which a name of a camp or ghetto was recited along with the number of people deported and killed at each.

"This prayer is not just for the Jewish victims of the Holocaust," said Dr. Robert Kane, historian for Air University. "It's for the Poles, the Soviet prisoners of war, the Gypsies and the hundreds of thousands of others who died just because of who they were."


Note: Holocaust Remembrance Day is April 19 and runs from the Sunday before Holocaust Remembrance Day through the following Sunday.