COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — Wednesday was Yom Hashoah, known in English as Holocaust Remembrance Day. It's a day when Jewish Communities around the world gather in prayer and light a yellow candle to remember the six million victims of the Holocaust.
The yellow candles represent the Yellow Stars Jews were forced to wear during the Holocaust. One of those people, the mother of Julie Kohner.
"I've been speaking around the country for 35 years," Kohner said. "I tell my mother's story of survival."
Kohner, whose mother survived four concentration camps, came to the Springs to share her parents' tale of love.
"I share this with my audiences from the time they met in a small town in the Czech Republic to when they were reunited in Holland," she said. "This is the last generation that will get to hear these survivor stories firsthand."
"We're kind of the last generation who's gonna have access to survivors," said Colorado Springs native Barak Ben-Amots.
Ben-Amots said that in recent years, carrying on the victim's legacy carries more weight, especially in recent years where incidents of antisemitism are on the rise.
Taking part in Wednesday's service, he says it's up to younger generations to put forth the effort to keep these customs alive.
"I definitely feel that weight," he said. "Now the needs feel much higher and the requirement to involve ourselves is much higher."
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