Yom HaShoah 2026

This year’s Yom HaShoah commemoration centers on generations of memory, survival, and responsibility, how Holocaust experiences are carried forward, interpreted, and sustained over time.

Francine Denerstein, born in Bergen-Belsen and First Vice Chair of the Sandra Bornstein Holocaust Education Center and member of its Speakers’ Bureau, will share her and her parents’ Holocaust story and reflect on what it has meant to carry that history forward. Her children and grandchildren will then reflect on how Holocaust memory has shaped their own identities, values, and sense of responsibility as the next generations. Featuring original music of remembrance and resilience by Judith Lynn Stillman and guest musicians.

We will also hear from students in SBHEC’s LIFT (Leadership Institute for Teens) program, who will present their final creative projects developed in collaboration with Rhode Island Poet Laureate Tina Cane. Their work reflects how young people today engage with Holocaust history and translate memory into poetry, leadership, and action.

Together, these voices, survivors, descendants, and students, affirm that Holocaust memory is not static. It lives across generations, shaped by testimony, creativity, and the shared obligation to remember.

Dessert reception immediately following

RSVP requested, not required