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Most people are familiar with the unforgettable song “Over the Rainbow” from the 1939 classic movie The Wizard of Oz. However, not so many people know of the many awards the song has received, and even fewer people know the Jewish roots of the song, framed by the pograms of Eastern Europe and the Holocaust.

Among the many awards “Over the Rainbow” has received, in 2001, the song was recognized as the greatest song ever written in the 20th century and in 2017, it was given further prestigious recognition, the number one song of the American Film Institute’s 100 Years…100 Songs list.

The song was created by composer Harold Arlen and lyricist Yip Harburg with contributions from Ira Gershwin, all children of Eastern European Jewish immigrants, for the movie The Wizard of Oz. The movie came out in 1939, two months after Kristallnacht and less than a week before the launch of WWII with Germany invading Poland. It echoes the Jewish experience of survival and hope and has become closely associated with the Jewish experience of WWII.

Over the years, many have related to this song, one of hope, and found expression in different interpretations. However, understanding the song within the context of the Jewish people and the Holocaust, it takes on a whole new meaning.

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Sundown, April 23, 2025 - Sundown, April 24, 2025. Reflecting on the loss wrought by the Holocaust.

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Juozas Audejus, a lawyer in Vilnius, Lithuania risked everything to save his Jewish friends and colleagues, Abram Dzimitrovsky and Abel Fromchik, along with their families.

As a municipal worker Audejus was able to enter the ghetto, providing vital information and support. When the ghetto faced its final liquidation in September 1943, he opened his home to the two families, hiding them in his basement for ten perilous months.

Despite frequent searches by policemen and collaborators, the Audejuses kept their friends safe until the city's liberation in July 1944.

After the war, the Fromchik family immigrated to Israel and the Dzimitrovskys moved to the United States, but the bonds formed in those dark times endured and they stayed in touch with their rescuers.

On 1 December 1970, Yad Vashem honored Juozas Audejus and his wife Ona as Righteous Among the Nations for their extraordinary bravery during the Holocaust.

(Source: yadvashem on instagram)

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In 1983, I visited Amsterdam while on a 2-week HS student exchange program to Dortmund, Germany. While there, we visited the tiny rooms where Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazis. Having grown up reading her book and seeing the play both live and broadcast on television each year on Yom Ha'Shoah, this experience was deeply moving.

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I met Zelda through my friend, Nancy Mensch, who organizes events for an elementary school in Palm Beach County. Nancy teaches her young students and raises awareness. Nancy won the Holocaust Educator of the Year Award in 2018. Amazing work!

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Jewish Culture-Holocaust October 7 Remembrance 

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WE REMEMBER YOU with Holocaust Survivor Zelda Fuksman for Yom HaShoah 4.18 2022

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Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed.
Never shall I forget that smoke.
Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky.
Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith for ever.
Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live.
Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes.
Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live
as long as God Himself.
Never.

Elie Wiesel. "Never Shall I Forget." Family Friend Poems, https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/never-shall-i-forget-by-elie-wiesel