Holocaust Survivor Dr. Henry Fenichel is the featured speaker and the theme is "Marking the 70th Anniversary of Liberation" at the Governor's 35th Annual Holocaust Commemoration at the Holocaust & Liberators Memorial on the grounds of the Ohio Statehouse, April 14, 2015.
Dr. Henry Fenichel was born in The Netherlands in 1938. Shortly after the Nazi rise to power, sensing the danger, Henry's parents sent a request for their relocation to Palestine where his father's family resided. After Henry's father was deported by the Nazis to Auschwitz and they still had no response to their request to immigrate, Henry and his mother went into hiding. When Henry was four years old, they were discovered hiding and were transported first to Amsterdam and in July 1943 to the Westerbork Detention Camp. Shortly after arriving, they learned of a prisoner exchange that would allow a select number of Jews to escape to Palestine. Through a miraculous series of events, Henry's mother was able to get them on the list. In June 1944, Henry, his mother and 220 other Dutch individuals left Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, eventually arriving to freedom in British Mandate Palestine.
Program participants:
Gov. John Kasich
Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor
Bonnie Kantor-Burman, Director, Ohio Dept. of Aging
David Goodman, Director, Ohio Development Services Agency
