The premiere of the movie "1506 - The Lisbon Genocide" at Temple Israel in Miami was a fantastic success. Everyone in the audience appreciated the honest portrayal of these violent events in 1506 that no one heard of before. There were many personal experiences in the first few silent seconds at the conclusion of the movie.
It was clear the oldest hatred in the world (500 years in this case), antisemitism, was captured on film, viewed, understood, and will be remembered as if they witnessed a real moment, documented accurately and felt deeply; not just a few lines in an ancient historical parchment.
After the movie the 3 panelists gave remarkable information and discussion under Dara’s guidance. Dr. Henry Green and Dr. Miriam Klein Kassenoff, both from the Miami University, said they will use "1506" as a reference in their education and agreed this was one of many purposely forgotten examples of pogroms from the past in other cities that killed Jews and hid the truth.
Greatly welcomed by spectators present was Miriam Klein Kassenoff, creator of the fully mandated Holocaust education program in the public school system of Florida despite being only 0.8% of Florida’s population. She survived the Nazi death camps and fled to the United States through Portugal.
Genie Milgrom, originally a Cuban Catholic, now the proud 22nd generation of her Jewish family, explained her 20+ family members died exactly the way the film depicts. And the last was Holocaust survivor through Portugal. A Spanish Catholic doctor here in Miami that felt a connection to Jews since he was 12 {now 65} immediately spoke to Genie to pursue his feelings of heritage that he will pursue.
An orthodox Jew from Florida International University decided to pursue his family history in Morocco and Algeria with Dr. Green and another person was fascinated by recipes designed to fool Inquisition Inquisitors. Unfortunately, Jewish heritage does not only include temples, houses, chanukiot and books. There is a heritage of suffering too. This suffering always ends up being forgotten, even by the descendants of the victims. They want to forget the past and start a new life looking only forward.
