Heritage Florida Jewish News - Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice

(JNS) - An exhibition of photographs culled from an international tribute to some of the last Holocaust survivors was held at U.N. Headquarters in New York on Wednesday, three days before International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The event, dubbed "We're Still Standing," showcased 35 carefully selected photographs from a collection of 455 original pieces curated by renowned photographers Jim Hollander and Rina Castelnuovo and compiled in the "The Lonka Project."

A panel from the "We're Still Standing" photographic exhibit. Photo by Sarri Singer.

More than 300 professional photographers from nearly 40 countries around the world volunteered their talent to capture the survivors in their respective countries for the project.

Also launched for the first time was "The Power of Life," a commemorative volume by Hollander and Castelnovo, in honor of the resilience of Holocaust survivors.

"Holocaust survivors who are now also survivors of [the Hamas massacre of] October 7 are a living testament to the perseverance of the Jewish people," said American-Israeli entrepreneur David Yaari, the initiator of the commemoration, chairman of Kol Israel-the General Zionist party in the World Zionist Congress-and vice chairman of Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund. "More than ever, Jews around the world must internalize the message of never again and stand resolute with the Jewish state.

"There is an inextricable link between the atrocities of the Holocaust and the horrors of October 7, namely that Jews were murdered solely for being Jewish," Yaari said.

Sarri Singer

Shown here (l-r): Betty Ehrenberg, World Jewish Congress; William Daroff, CEO, Conference of Presidents; Gadi Meiri, KKL Board of Directors; David Yaari, vice chairman of KKL-JNF; Eric Fingerhut, CEO of JFNA; Nat Shaffir, Holocaust Survivor; Ambassador Gilad Erdan, Israel's permanent representative to the U.N.; Ifat Ovadia-Lusky, chairwoman KKL-JNF; Deborah Isaac, president of the American Zionist Movement; Eric Goldstein, CEO of UJA Federation; and Ronnie Vinikov, head of external affairs at KKL-JNF.

The event, which was attended by Israeli ambassador to the U.N. Gilad Erdan, included the screening of a brief documentary featuring Holocaust survivors who survived the horrors of Oct. 7, a performance by the renowned violinist Aron Frank, and the personal testimony of Holocaust survivor Nat Shaffir, born in Romania in 1936, who is a permanent lecturer at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.

Shaffir said he "never could have imagined that history would be repeated during his lifetime."

Erdan opened the solemn evening saying, "One hundred ten days ago, the Jewish people experienced the most brutal massacre since the Holocaust. This murder is part of a radical Islamic plan to destroy the Jewish people. However, just as after the Holocaust, the Jewish nation rises from the past and strengthens." 

Also attending the event were diplomats from 37 countries, including the U.N. ambassadors from Argentina, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Cyprus, Greece, Honduras, Japan, Rwanda and Spain.

The commemoration was initiated by Kol Israel and hosted by Israel's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in collaboration with Kol Israel, KKL-JNF, World Jewish Restitution Organization, the Claims Conference and Amcha.