State government officials and Jewish community leaders from across Illinois gathered for the Statewide Holocaust Memorial Service at the Old State Capitol in Springfield on May 5.

Keynoted by Gov. Rauner, speakers included Jewish Community Relations Council Chair David T. Brown, State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, Holocaust survivor Matus Stolov, Illinois Holocaust and Genocide Commission Co-Chair Michael Bauer, several rabbis and other religious leaders from throughout the state.

In his opening remarks, Brown reflected on the importance of Yom HaShoah.

“Today we recommit ourselves by making sure the meaning of ‘never forget’ is never forgotten,” he said. He also spoke about his experiences on JUF’s Nachshon Mission to Poland and Berlin.

Rauner, who issued a proclamation calling upon the Illinois people to remember the victims of the Holocaust, shared a similar message. “We must make sure never forget is a true call to action,” he said.

Bauer, a son of a Polish survivor, honored his mother on her 100th birthday. He referred to her as the strong-willed matriarch of his family; she lost her entire family – including eight brothers and sisters — in the Holocaust.

Feigenholtz recounted Anne Frank’s story and highlighted the lesson that no one has been poor by giving. “We could all learn from the universal messages of tzedakah and chesed, ” she said.

Stolov, a survivor from the former Soviet Union and the first Russian remembrance speaker at the statewide service, reflected on his escape to Kazan by jumping a moving train and dodging bullets in the German-occupied territories near his home. He survived the Minsk ghetto with the help of an underground German-resistance fighter, “Big Lena” who was known to the Jews as a silent helper. After Minsk was liberated in 1944, Stolov returned to his hometown and eventually immigrated to Chicago in April 1982, in time to celebrate his first Passover.