Local Jewish Community Observes Holocaust Remembrance Day

Mike Jablon's entire family line would have been snuffed out 70 years ago if it hadn't been for a fake U.S. passport.

Monday marked Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Yom HaShoah. On Sunday evening at the Best Western Hotel, the Chabad Center of San Clemente hosted a presentation by local resident Jablon about his family's struggles during the Holocaust and about the Alte Synagogue in the town of Essen, Germany, where his family lived.

“Since the time I was a little boy," Jablon said, "I used to sit on my grandfather’s lap, and I used to say to him, 'Tell me about your childhood.'

"He used to love to talk about his childhood," Jablon said, referring to Yossel Jablon—Grandpop Joe. "He came to life. My family is originally from Shedlitz, Poland, but [in search of] better circumstances and a better life, they moved to Essen, Germany, in 1924. Of all of his amazing stories, the one I loved the best was when he talked about his synagogue, the Alte Synagogue and the blossoming Jewish community of Essen, Germany.”

The synagogue was built in 1911 and was a towering presence in the city of Essen, able to be seen from anywhere in town. It was the center of Jewish life, a beacon of light to the community, Jablon said. He showed several slides of the synagogue under construction, the choir in which Jablon's grandfather sang and of the community that centered on it.

The inscription on the lintel read: "Da lifnei mi attah omed"—that is,
"Know before whom you stand."

During the '20s and '30s, Jewish life thrived in Essen.

Then, on Oct. 28, 1938, all that changed.

“The Nazis' first plan for the Polish Jews of Essen was to separate them; immediately overnight they were to be sent back to Poland,” Jablon said.

The Polish Jews of Essen were sent back to Poland via stripped-down passenger trains, and then taken to the border city of Zbaszyn, Poland, and forced to cross back over into Poland.

“My grandfather, being a very interesting guy, he was man of many accents, and voices and languages. He managed to get himself a passport to the United States," Jablon said. "Although he was in the mix of the people [to be deported to Poland], he was arrested on this day and taken to a Nazi jail. But he was not to go on that transport, and the whole fact that my grandfather was not on that transport with the rest of the family is the only reason that I am alive to this day.” 

Following the departure of the Jews from Essen, the inside of the synagogue's brick structure was torched, destroying much of infrastructure.  Pictures show the gutted inside of the synagogue that still proclaimed from its lintel, "Know before whom you stand."

The city of Essen was known for its manufacturing and steel plants and during World War II. It became one of the principal suppliers of munitions for the German war effort. Because of this, it was targeted frequently during Allied bombing runs. Pictures show the burned-out synagogue still standing amid destruction all around it.

After the war, the structure became a museum for the city, stripped of all of its Jewish trappings. In 1968, Jablon’s grandfather returned to Essen and found himself crying as he looked at the converted building. When a police officer asked him why he was crying, according to Jablon, his grandfather said:

“This used to be my synagogue, this used to be my community, this used to be where my family was.”

From 1986-88, a cultural organization raised millions of dollars to restore the synagogue for its original function, and so the synagogue was reborn,  complete with the same words over the lintel, "Know before whom you stand."

"Obviously," said Chabad , "a day like today or coming up tomorrow is a day we remember the past and we recommit ourselves to the future. We recommit ourselves to spreading Judaism, to living a Jewish life, to encouraging our neighbors to live Jewish lives, to be proud that we are Jewish. And that’s the goal of what this day ... not just to look back and read a story as if it happened in the past, but to look at something and see how it can inspire us for now. That is how we honor the memory of this day."