'Together, We Can Help Fulfill the Promise of 'Never Again'.'

Monday morning, with the entire student body, faculty and staff, and several community members watching, Westborough High School Facing History Club members lit memorial candles in the school lobby, and then challenged the gathered.

"As we remember all whose lives were lost or forever altered by the Holocaust, we are challenged to think about what might have motivated us to respond to warning signs of genocide today," club Vice President Ari Lazarine said.

"History teaches us that genocide can be prevented if enough people care enough to act. Our choices and responses to hatred truly do matter. And together, we can help fulfill the promise of 'Never again'."

Westborough High School observed the National Holocaust Remembrance Day on Monday.

"This will be the first annual commemoration of the Holocaust at Westborough High School"  club President Max Herman noted.

Herman said Congress established the Days of Remembrance as the "annual commemoration of the Holocaust," and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum "as a permanent living memorial to the victims."

Monday's observance coincided with the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.

The candles lit in the high school lobby were "in memory of the estimated 13 million who died during the Holocaust," Herman said.

"We do this in their memory so they will never be forgotten," he said.

The WHS string quartet, led by Orchestra Director Kristin Chartier, performed "Ani Ma'amin ("I Believe"). And the WHS Chamber Singers, led by Director of Choral Music Alyson Greer Espinosa, performed "Oseh Shalom."

Lazarine said that during lunch on Monday, Facing History club members would pass out buttons stating "Stand up," to signify "our commitment not to be bystanders."

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