ALBANY – Ever since October 7, 2023, there has been a disturbing rise in hate crimes across the country, many targeting members of the Jewish faith. For the folks who gathered at Congregation Beth Abraham Jacob in Albany Monday night, the violence isn’t just history repeating itself, it illustrates a persistent cascade of intolerance.

The dinner honored Holocaust survivors was a celebration of their bravery, their sacrifice, and their lives. Many of the survivors, including 91-year-old Murray Jaros of Niskayuna, who grew up in Poland, understand the importance of telling and retelling his story to others.

“I’m very grateful that I did survive and that I had the opportunity to establish a new life,” Jaros said. “I’m very grateful that during my lifetime I was able to serve in a way that would also be exemplary, as well as in a position to help others when ever I could.”

Ivan Vamos, of Loudonville, grew up in Hungary, made it out of Europe and came to America. He is painfully aware of the surveys that indicate nearly half of the American population believes a Holocaust could happen again.

“It is disheartening and I still wonder about that and I worry about that,” he said. “I believe it could happen again, maybe not to Jews but it may happen to another group.”

Ruth Facher Mendel of Delmar was 9-years old when she and her parents escaped the Nazi regime as it entered Liechtenstein. She believes there needs to be a national mandate to teach Holocaust history to school students across the country.

“This has to be done and done in such a way that children can learn what absolute hatred, what one human being can achieve in a few years,” she said. “We’re dealing with intelligent people, doctors and lawyers, yelling at them to get rid of people.”

At some point, and the time is approaching, there will no longer be survivors to tell their stories first person. All the more reason to listen to what survivors are saying now, and then pass those stories on to future generations, to make sure the world never forgets.