Jewish community leaders gathered in the Rath Building offices of Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz Thursday for Holocaust Memorial Day.
They were there to witness the County Executive and Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown issuing a joint proclamation designating this week, "The Days of Remembrance of the victims of the Nazi Holocaust."
Gabriel Ferber is President of the Holocaust Resource Center of Buffalo.
"To honor the member of six million person of the Jewish faith who were murdered in the Holocaust," said Ferber.
Ferber added the purpose of the commemoration is to ensure that the horrendous crimes against humanity committed during the Holocaust are never forgotten.
The event culminated with the lighting of six candles, each candle signifying one million Jews who were murdered between 1933 and 1945.
“While I am not Jewish, I have a relative who died at the concentration camp at Auschwitz,” said Poloncarz. “We are here today to remember the millions of victims of the Nazi Holocaust, to make sure that each new generation never forgets, and to reaffirm that we must be on guard so that this never happens again.”