The Russian Jewish Congress presented the “Keeper of Memory” award

On the eve of the International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Holocaust, the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater hosted a charitable memorial evening “Keeper of Memory”. As part of the event dedicated to the 78th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz (Auschwitz-Birkenau) by the Soviet troops, the ceremony of presenting the Russian Jewish Congress (REK) “Keeper of Memory” award, awarded to people who have made a special contribution to the preservation of the memory of the Holocaust, was held .

Over the five years of the award’s existence, its laureates in different years have been Chairman of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation Valentina Matvienko, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, Governor of the Volgograd Region Andrey Bocharov, Head of the Stavropol Territory Vladimir Vladimirov, President of the Holocaust Foundation Alla Gerber, participant in the liberation of Auschwitz Ivan Martynushkin and others . This year, the award was given to Chairman of the Moscow City Duma Alexei Shaposhnikov, head of the Moscow Public Organization of Jews – former prisoners of the ghettos and Nazi concentration camps Oleg Mortkovich, chairman of the board of the Volgograd Jewish Community Center, volunteer of the Restore Dignity program Yael Ioffe and president of the Regional Jewish Congress Charitable Foundation for Social Development Southern and North Caucasian Federal Districts” by Aron Mardakhaev. The winners were presented with a memorial sign in the form of a candle made of amber.

After the official part, poems by poets, prisoners of the ghettos and concentration camps, were read. The concert program included works by Maurice Ravel (“Kaddish”), Dmitry Shostakovich (from the vocal cycle “From Jewish Folk Poetry”), John Williams (melody from the film “Schindler’s List”), Mieczysław Weinberg (toccata from “Trio for Piano, Violin and cello”), Giuseppe Verdi (arias from the operas Macbeth and Nabucco), Antonio Vivaldi (aria from the opera Bayazet) and Gioacchino Rossini (prayer from the opera Moses in Egypt).

“This evening, the main event of our annual Holocaust Remembrance Week, was traditionally charitable, and any guest of the ceremony and viewer of the online broadcast could make a donation,” RJC official representative Mikhail Savin told Kommersant. program of the Russian Jewish Congress “Restore Dignity”, thanks to which more than 90 monuments to the victims of the Holocaust have already been opened in Russia.

Tomorrow, January 27, right on the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust, the Moscow City Duma will open the historical and documentary exhibition “The Holocaust: Destruction, Resistance, Salvation.” It was prepared by the Holocaust Center with the participation of the RJC. The exhibition presents materials that tell about the horrors of the Holocaust in the occupied territory of the USSR, show the role of the Red Army in rescuing the Jews of Europe and freeing prisoners of death camps.

Pavel Korobov