Holocaust Memorial Concerts
INTERNATIONAL VOICE OF JUSTICE is a non-profit organization (registered in New York State), created to serve as a platform to fight anti-Semitism in Europe and around the world using music and the arts as a tool. IVOJ has produced and will continue to produce concerts for Holocaust remembrance and seminars, conferences, art exhibitions and cultural events focused on issues such as: Holocaust Remembrance, Krystal Nacht, The Resistance in World War II, and issues of racism and genocide.
Tides of anti-Semitism are again rising throughout Europe and the world, as evidenced in the growing Neo-Nazi movement, Holocaust denial and nationalist political movements seeking to promote racial hatred. It is necessary that the atrocities perpetrated against the Jewish people under Hitler be commemorated and are committed to the consciousness of each new generation. It has been said that a people who forget their history are destined to repeat it.
IVOJ is working to counteract this tide of hatred through arts events and concerts featuring the song cycle with vignettes, “Voices of the Holocaust”, a musical drama (copyright © 1993, Martha J. Smith). The work is based on the lives of victims of the Holocaust, many of whom resettled in the Washington Heights area of New York City after the war. The song cycle with vignettes, “Voices of the Holocaust”, premiered in 1997 in New York City, Wiener Concert Hall. Present among the audience were over 100 Holocaust survivors. Since then, "Voices of the Holocaust" has been presented in Norway, Germany, France, Estonia, Latvia and Finland with plans for future engagements. These concerts have been met with standing ovations and enthusiastic reviews. The work has been translated into and presented in Swedish, Finnish, Estonian, Russian, French and German.
In August 2008, a new work, “Voices of the Resistance”, (copyright © 2008, Martha J. Smith) was premiered in France and later performed in Berlin, Germany for Yom Hashoa in 2009.
International Voice of Justice produced Beethoven's opera "Fidelio: Holocaust Memorial Production, (Design copyright: Dr. Martha J. Smith) in five cities of Poland in 2010. The performances were met with standing ovations and excellent reviews but in Poland and internationally. (Please see the review by clicking "here.")
But producing cultural events such as these requires finances. Through contributions to IVOJ you will be helping us to provide a platform for artists of every medium to engage their talents in the fight against anti-Semitism in Europe and beyond. In so doing, we hope to bring a voice of Justice on behalf of the victims of the Holocaust and those suffering anti-Semitic injustice in Europe today.