The 28th Annual Westmoreland County Interfaith Community Memorial Service in Observance of Yom HaShoah to be Held May 4

The 28th Annual Westmoreland County Interfaith Memorial Service in Observance of Yom HaShoah or Holocaust Remembrance Day will be held Wednesday, May 4 at 7 p.m. at the Trinity Evangelical Church, 331 Weldon St., Latrobe, Pa.

The event, which remembers the lives lost during the Holocaust, is sponsored by the Seton Hill University National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education, The Westmoreland Jewish Community Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, the Greater Latrobe Ministerial Association, the Greensburg Ministerium, Congregation Emanu-El Israel  of Greensburg, The Greensburg-Jeannette NAACP, YWCA of Westmoreland County and Christ the Divine Teacher School of Latrobe.

The featured speaker for the event is Holocaust survivor Shulamit Bastacky of Pittsburgh. Born in 1941 in Vilna, Lithuania, Ms. Bastacky was hidden by a Catholic nun in a basement during the Holocaust. Both her parents, Simon and Dora Bastacky, also survived the Holocaust. Ms. Bastacky earned a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Pittsburgh. Her story, “Beyond Memory,” is published in the book Flares of Memory edited by Anita Brostoff and first published in 1998.

The service includes readings, song, prayer and candle lighting. This year’s service will feature the lighting of eight candles: six in memory of the six million Jews who died during the Holocaust; one for the liberators; and one for 21stcentury victims of genocide.

If you are a member of the media and would like more information, contact Director of Media Relations Jennifer Reeger at jreeger@setonhill.edu, (724) 830-1069 (office) or (724) 433-9613 (cell). If you are not a member of the media, contact us here.