On February 4th, Chabad of Venice held its annual Holocaust Memorial event at the Venice Community Center before a sold-out crowd of 950 community members, dignitaries, and over 250 local high school students. Upon entering, attendees walked through a Yad Vashem exhibit, immersing them in the history and human toll of the Holocaust before the program began.
The evening’s keynote was delivered by Sora Vigorito, the youngest known survivor of Dr. Josef Mengele’s twin experiments at Auschwitz. Taken to Auschwitz with her twin sister Hanna in 1944 at just three years old, Sora endured spinal injections, bone scrapings, and other procedures without anesthesia — and held her sister as she died just two weeks before liberation. Her testimony left the audience in stunned silence, followed by a standing ovation.
For the hundreds of students in the room, this was not a history lesson from a textbook — it was a living witness sharing the unimaginable. Venice Mayor Nick Pachota underscored the moment by officially proclaiming Venice Holocaust Education Week, affirming the community’s commitment to remembrance and education.
A melody that led her back
Sora survived the war and rebuilt her life in America, carrying memories that would shape her identity for decades to come. Her path back to Judaism was long and complex. A forgotten melody she heard years later in synagogue — tied to the darkest moments of her childhood — became the spark that reopened her connection to faith.
“Suddenly I was reliving moments I had buried forever,” she recalls. “I didn’t understand it then, but now I know that what I heard was Ani Ma’amin — a declaration of faith even in the face of death.”
As she rediscovered her heritage, Sora found strength in the determination of those she remembered from Auschwitz. “They were proclaiming their belief in God,” she says. “And I thought: I want a faith like that.”
Today Sora shares her story across the world, and is recognized as the last living Mengele twin as well as an Emmy Award–winning documentarian. With so few survivors still able to speak firsthand, hearing her was a rare privilege.
The morning itself
Concert violinist Vladimir Tsypin added to the emotional weight of the evening with a stirring performance of music from Schindler’s List, beautifully complementing the themes of resilience and remembrance.
Chabad of Venice extends its heartfelt gratitude to all who attended and to the dedicated team and volunteers who made the evening possible. Special thanks go to the Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee, the Gulf Coast Community Foundation, the Bank of America Client Foundation, and the Snyder Family Foundation for their generous sponsorship.
