Holocaust victims to be remembered through music, art, readings Published April 16, 2009 By Rhonda Siciliano 66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. -- The base will host a special Holocaust Remembrance event at the Base Chapel on April 28 at 3:30 p.m., titled "Of the Shtetl, We Sing: European Jewry before Kristallnacht." The event will feature a special presentation by Howard Worona, Hanscom Middle School music specialist, as well as special readings by Rabbi Abraham Morhaim, who serves as the civilian rabbi on Hanscom. In his presentation, Mr. Worona will paint a picture through words, live and recorded music and art, of the lives of the Jews of Eastern Europe prior to and after the time of "Kristallnacht, the night of the broken glass. Kristallnacht marked the beginning of the systematic extermination of over six million Jews. The tribute calls attention to the innocence and simple life style of the Shtetl, the small Jewish communities of Eastern Europe depicted in the stories of author Sholom Aleichem and later in the Broadway musical "Fiddler on the Roof." Several Hanscom Middle School music students will sing and play instruments as part of the presentation. "We encourage everyone to join us for this very moving commemoration," said Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Dennis Kitterman, 66th Air Base Wing chaplain. The event is to commemorate the national Days of Remembrance, a national week initiated by the United States Congress in 1980 to honor the victims of the Holocaust. Holocaust Remembrance Day is a day set aside during the Days of Remembrance observance for Americans to reflect on the Holocaust and on the effects that bigotry, hatred and indifference can have on a civilized society, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Web site, www.ushmm.org/remembrance. For more information on the Holocaust Remembrance event contact the Base Chapel at (781) 377-3538 or Stephen Klein (781) 377-7363.