Rutberg: “… this must never
be allowed to happen again”
MID-HUDSON – The Holocaust during World War II, the systematic eradication of six million Jews by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime, was remembered in solemn ceremonies in the Hudson Valley on Thursday. Observances were held in Poughkeepsie, Carmel and Goshen.
At the Poughkeepsie remembrance, attorney Martin Rutberg said he believes people are becoming more disconnected and that the “fabric of our society is unraveling” right before us.
“There is no question to me that hatred, bigotry, is coming back into acceptance where anti-Semitism, racism; all of a sudden people feel like they can get away with it again, they can come out with it again, they can say whatever they want again,” Rutberg noted. He said it is important to remember the Holocaust because history has a way of repeating itself and this must never be allowed to happen again.
At the Putnam County observance, Anita Greenwald, whose parents survived the Holocaust, said they were at the right place at the right time.
“When my mother’s family arrived at Ellis Island in 1940 they were turned away since the American quota for refugees had been filled,” Greenwald said. “The boat carrying them sailed to the Dominican Republic where they were welcomed and resided for four years until they were sponsored by family already in the US.”
