The San Antonio Public Library and the Holocaust Memorial Museum of San Antonio encourage the public to take part in the 12th annual the Holocaust Learn and Remember series of activities scheduled this January.

The background

According to a news release, the public library system commemorates International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27 with a series of free community activities dedicated to honoring and remembering the victims and survivors of the Holocaust.

The 2024 theme, “Upstanders,” focuses on individuals who risked their lives to act and save lives of people who were being persecuted by the Nazis, the release stated.

The library system’s monthlong series includes presentations by historians and Holocaust experts, sharing stories of unsung heroes, the release states.


There will also be a traveling exhibit displayed at four library locations designed to highlight stories of individuals recognized by Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center as the “Righteous Among the Nations,” the release states.

These individuals, regarded as “upstanders,” were non-Jews who took great risks to save Jews during the Holocaust, according to SAPL and HMMSA officials.

Digging deeper

Some featured Learn and Remember events include the following:


J.E. Wolfson, education coordinator with the Texas Holocaust, Genocide and Antisemitism Advisory Commission, will lead a presentation about how history sometimes focuses on non-Jewish rescuers’ actions—and not those of Jewish resistance members—during the Holocaust.
  • Jan. 12, 10-11:30 a.m.
  • Igo Branch Library, 13330 Kyle Seale Parkway, San Antonio
  • 210-207-9080
Parman Library of Stone Oak will host a presentation on Arena Sendler, a Catholic social worker who saved 2,500 Jewish children during the Holocaust. Sendler’s story had been lost for decades until a group of Kansas teenagers discovered her journey and shared it with the public.
  • Jan. 14, 3 p.m.
  • 20735 Wilderness Oak Drive, San Antonio
  • 210-207-2703
The Barshop Jewish Community Center will host a dramatic reading of Rodolfo Alvarado’s play, “Undesirable Secrets,” which is about Anthony Acevedo, an Army medic who becomes the first Mexican-American registered at a concentration camp.
  • Jan. 21, 2-4 p.m.
  • Holzman Auditorium, 12500 N.W. Military Hwy., San Antonio
  • 210-302-6800