News Search

Candle lighting

Bonnie Scotto, 90th Missile Wing Judge Advocate Victim Witness Assistance Program coordinator, lights a candle in remembrance of Holocaust victims while Rabbi Harley Karz-Wagman, Mount Sinai Synagogue leader, looks on during the F. E. Warren Air Force Base Holocaust Remembrance and Candle Lighting Ceremony held in the Fall Hall Community Center April 17. Scotto and several other members of the synagogue’s congregation lit the candles in unity with other attendees of the ceremony, who lit candles of their own. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman Jason Wiese)

Holocaust survivors

Helen Zigmond and Zoltan Gancz, sibling survivors of the Holocaust, look at informational posters about the Holocaust during the F. E. Warren Air Force Base Holocaust Remembrance and Candle Lighting Ceremony in the Fall Hall Community Center April 17. Zigmond and Gancz were among the members of the Mount Sinai Synagogue congregation who lit candles during the Candle Lighting Ceremony in remembrance of Holocaust victims and Nazi resistors. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman Jason Wiese)

Holocaust victims and Nazi resistors remembered

Published May 2, 2012
By Airman Jason Wiese
90th Missile Wing Public Affairs

F. E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo. -- Members of the Mount Sinai Synagogue and Congregation of Cheyenne visited F. E. Warren for its Holocaust Remembrance and Candle Lighting Ceremony and free food sampling in the Fall Hall Community Center April 17.

Among the visitors were Helen Zigmond and Zoltan Gancz, siblings who survived the Holocaust, said Tech. Sgt. Edgar Gonzalez, 90th Security Forces Group tactical response force and master of ceremonies for the remembrance.

"In 1979, Congress established Days of Remembrance as the nation's annual commemoration of the Holocaust and created the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum as a permanent living memorial to the victims," Gonzalez said. "This year, Holocaust Remembrance week is April 15 through April 22. The museum designated 'Choosing to act: Stories of Rescue' as the theme for this year's observance."

At the event, attendees watched a film from the Holocaust Memorial Museum while sampling food. After the viewing, Tech. Sgt. William Carter, 90th Missile Security Forces Squadron and keynote speaker for the ceremony gave his address.

Members of the Mount Sinai Synagogue then conducted a candle-lighting ceremony. The lighting of the candles was in remembrance of Holocaust victims, survivors and resistors, said Rabbi Harley Karz-Wagman, leader of the synagogue.

"Every year we commemorate the Holocaust," said Karz-Wagman. "We're paying tribute to the resistors and rescuers because they stood up to the Nazis and their collaborators, the greatest bullies of all time, and we pay tribute to allied soldiers because they were the greatest liberators."

Bonnie Scotto, 90th Missile Wing Judge Advocate Victim Witness Assistance Program coordinator, lit one of the candles during the remembrance.

"I think it brings hope," she said. "If people are willing to take time to remember, maybe they'd be willing to take time to stand up and keep it from happening again. It strengthens the relations between F. E. Warren and the Jewish community in Cheyenne."