2026 Westchester Countywide Yom HaShoah Commemoration
By |April 9, 2026
Event to Feature Holocaust Survivor as Keynote Speaker
Westchester Countywide Yom HaShoah Commemoration to Feature Holocaust Survivor
The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC) and Westchester Jewish Council (WJC) will host the annual Countywide Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) Commemoration on Tuesday, April 14th from 12 to 1pm at the Garden of Remembrance on 148 Martine Avenue in White Plains, New York. The program will feature a keynote presentation by HHREC Holocaust Survivor Speaker Joseph Gosler and a procession of Westchester's rescued Holocaust Torahs.
Keynote Speaker Saved by Dutch Resistance
Joseph Gosler was born in the Netherlands in July 1942. At seven months old, he was given to the Dutch resistance (the underground movement against the German occupation of the Netherlands during WWII), and placed with the Dijkstra family. Though danger lurked everywhere, he was lucky; his birth parents (Henriette and Maurice) were not as fortunate. They were caught and severely beaten. His mother, who had ivory white skin and blue eyes, was told that she would be killed if found with a Jew again. His father was taken to a transit camp called Westerbork, in the northeastern part of the Netherlands, about 19 miles from the German border. WWII ended, and both parents were reunited with their son. However, to Joseph, they were total strangers. He was angry, disoriented, and wanted to return to his wartime family. In 1949, with the addition of his sister, Marja, the family immigrated to Israel, and subsequently to the USA in 1953.
Gosler is the author of Searching for Home: The Impact of WWII on a Hidden Child. He earned a BA in History, and an MBA in Corporate Finance, and worked for 40 years as a finance director in various schools. He and his wife (Sheila) founded a pre-school called Beginnings Nursery, have one son, and live in New York City.
This event will be held rain or shine, and admission is free and open to all. For more information contact Millie Jasper at HHREC mjasper@hhrency.org or Pam Goldstein at WJC pam@wjcouncil.org.