The Jewish Genealogical Society of the Conejo Valley and Ventura County (JGSCV) will hold a general meeting, co–sponsored with Temple Adat Elohim, on Sunday, May 4, 2014 at Temple Adat Elohim 2420 E. Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks,1:30-3:30 p.m. Each year JGSCV commemorates Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Memorial Day) with a special program. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s [USHMM] 2014 theme for Days of Remembrance is Confronting the Holocaust: American Responses-both action and inaction in the face of the refugee crisis in 1939 and the 70thanniversary of the deportation of Hungarian Jews. In May 1939, a passenger liner, the SS St. Louis, carrying 937 people—almost all of them German Jews fleeing Nazi persecution—left Hamburg, Germany, for Havana, Cuba. The ship had landing permits to enter Cuba which were invalidated before the ship arrived in Havana. For 30 days the St. Louis wandered the seas and was refused haven by every country in the Americas including the United States. Attempts to enter the US were unsuccessful and pleas to President Roosevelt were unheeded. This was a few months before the War broke out in Europe. The ship returned to Europe where many passengers ended dying in the holocaust. Documentary: JGSCV will be showing the documentary, The Voyage of the St. Louis* which tells the story of the infamous St. Louis episode as recalled by passengers who made the crossing as children and in readings from the diary of the ship’s captain. Speaker: Clara Knopfler, Holocaust survivor. To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the deportation of the Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz-Birkenau, Knopfler will recount the brutality of her family's journey from a Jewish ghetto, to the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Riga-where she lost her father, brother and 37 other members of her family. Knopfler will also sell her book, I Am Still Here, My Mother's Voice. The Jewish Genealogical Society of the Conejo Valley and Ventura County is dedicated to sharing genealogical information, techniques and research tools with anyone interested in Jewish genealogy and family history. There is no charge to attend the meeting. Anyone may join JGSCV. Annual dues are $25 for an individual and $30 for a family. *Showing the Voyage of the St. Louis is made possible through the National Center for Jewish Film www.jewishfilm.org For more information contact: information@JGSCV.org or call Jan Meisels Allen @818-889-6616 See: www.JGSCV.org