Oak Ridge Today

Kimmelman to be remembered with state proclamation, tribute on Friday

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Mira Kimmelman accepts an award from Hadassah. (Submitted photo)

Tennessee Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally will present a state proclamation in honor of Mira Kimmelman on Friday, August 16. The presentation will be at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Jewish Congregation of Oak Ridge.

Jinx Watson will receive the proclamation from McNally and give a tribute to Kimmelman as her longtime friend and fellow educator, a press release said.

Following the program will be a Friday night service and then a potluck meal, the press release said.

“The public is invited to attend this celebration of Mira and the community potluck following the service,” the release said. [Read more…]

Obituary: Mira Ryczke Kimmelman, Holocaust survivor

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Mira Ryczke Kimmelman

Mira Ryczke Kimmelman, 95, of 969 West Outer Drive, died peacefully at home at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, April 17.

Mira’s long and purposeful life was dotted with tragic events and redeeming joys. She was born on September 17, 1923, in the seaside resort of Zoppot, a suburb of the free City of Danzig. Her father Moritz was a grain merchant and her mother Eugenia dedicated herself to raising Mira and her younger brother Benno.

This happy life came to an abrupt end in 1939 when the Nazis invaded Danzig and drove Mira and her family from their home, first to ghettos in Warsaw and Tomaszow Mazowiecki, then to concentration camps Blizyn-Majdanek and Auschwitz, and thereafter on a horrific death march to Bergen-Belsen, where Mira was liberated and reunited with her father. Sadly, her mother and brother did not survive the Holocaust.

In 1946, she met another survivor, Max Kimmelman, who had lost his wife and daughter in the Holocaust. They married on May 19, 1946, in Germany. With the assistance of family in Cincinnati, Ohio, they were able to immigrate to the United States and arrived in Cincinnati, Ohio, on August 2, 1948.

[Read more…]

Holocaust Remembrance Program is Sunday in Oak Ridge

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Mira Kimmelman

Mira Kimmelman

There will be a Holocaust Remembrance Program at the Jewish Congregation of Oak Ridge on Sunday.

It’s presented by the Jewish Congregation of Oak Ridge and the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church. The Holocaust Remembrance Service is sponsored by the Oak Ridge Interfaith Partnership, and the public is encouraged to attend, a press release said. The City of Oak Ridge has proclaimed April 15 to be Holocaust Remembrance Day for 2018, the press release said.

The Holocaust Remembrance Program will be held from 3 to 4 p.m. Sunday in the Jewish Congregation of Oak Ridge Sanctuary, which is at 101 West Madison Lane. There will be a candle lighting ceremony, songs, readings by members of both congregations, and prayers, the press release said. [Read more…]