Houston, TX:  The Church at Bethel’s Family invites the Houston community to the March of Remembrance Houston on Sunday, April 7th.  An opening ceremony at 4:00 pm will be followed by a prayer and awareness walk .  A memorial service will begin at 6:00 pm featuring keynote speaker Eva Mozes Kor.

The Holocaust March of Remembrance is a nationwide interdenominational effort by Christians to stand alongside the Jewish people in their remembrance of Yom Hashoah, “The Catastrophe.”  Following the inaugural march for the Houston area held in Kingwood in 2012, the effort has spread citywide in 2013 with seven marches being held over two days in the Houston Metro area on the weekend of April 6th and 7th.  The Fondren area march at Bethel on Sunday is the culminating event of the weekend.

When asked why he and his church chose to host the March of Remembrance, Pastor Walter August replied, “For every preacher in the city of Houston, we can’t go in the Bible without mentioning Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.    We can understand the pain of the Jewish people and we understand it a whole lot better than a lot of individuals.  But we’re only as good as when we’re standing shoulder to shoulder.”  As 2013 is the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, he felt it especially significant that his church participate at this time.  Not only because of the similarities of the struggles and persecution between the Jewish people and African Americans, but also because of the support from the Jewish community during the Civil Rights movement.  “That,” he said, “I assure you, we will never forget.”

Registration for the march will begin at 3:00 pm at Bethel.  Those interested in participating may also preregister online at http://www.holocaustremembranceassociation.org/central.

The highlight of the memorial service will be the testimony of Eva Mozes Kor.  Kor and her twin sister were the sole survivors in their immediate and extended family of the Auschwitz death camp.  They were one of the few sets of twins, out of over 3,000, to survive the experimentation of Josef Mengele.  Ms. Kor is the founder of the Holocaust Museum and Education center in Terre Haute, Indiana, and the C.A.N.D.L.E.S., an acronym for Children of Auschwitz Nazi’s Deadly Lab Experiments Survivors. This organization of the Mengele Twins has located and reunited many survivors of the experiments and is dedicated “to heal the pain, to teach the truth, to prevent prejudice.”

About the March of Remembrance Houston

The Holocaust March of Remembrance Houston will be held on the weekend of April 6th and 7th, 2013, in seven communities across the Houston area.  Beginning with a prayer walk and culminating with a memorial service honoring both Holocaust survivors and the rescuers.  To participate in the march in your area, visit http://www.holocaustremembranceassociation.org/participate and register online.

The March of Remembrance Houston (www.holocaustremembranceassociation.org) is part of the U.S. March of Remembrance and March of Life (Europe.) The March of Remembrance/March of Life provides an opportunity for people worldwide to take a stand against modern day anti-semitism, to publicly demonstrate their respect for the Jewish people, and their right to exist as a nation.