Their stories are at once fascinating, harrowing and horrifying. Survivors of the Holocaust, or Shoah, are fewer in number, and the Jewish Community believes strongly in the importance of keeping their stories alive for future generations.

The annual Jewish Community Relations Council Community-wide Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) Commemoration, “The Story Must Be Shared,” will be 7 p.m. Thursday, April 16, at Keneseth Israel Congregation.

Each year, the number of Holocaust survivors able to present first-hand testimony grows smaller. Today’s generation will be the last able to learn directly from those who endured Nazi persecution.

This year’s speaker, Conrad Weiner, was a child survivor, born in 1938 in Storojinetz, a small town in Bucovina, once part of Romania and now part of Ukraine. His family was taken by cattle car for two days and one night, then made to walk for two weeks in the snow and mud to the forced-labor camp, Budi. Only 3½-years old at the time, he was lucky to have an uncle strong enough to carry him through most of the trip. He will share his story of how he survived until 1944, when the camp was liberated by the Soviets. He moved to the United States in 1960.

Weiner is committed to educating the community about the Holocaust and his experiences. “It must be done to keep our promise, ‘Never again,’” Weiner said. “We must learn from history in order to not repeat it. We see many examples of intolerance every day.”

Fred Whittaker, Yom HaShoah chair, said the program has begun including teens in recent years. Instead of only hosting speakers, the event has seen more youth involvement. “For the past two years, we’ve broken away from the format and truly celebrated the coming of the next generation,” Whittaker said. “There’s been a great participation of youth and teens.”

Students from four public schools who have participated in a special Anne Frank educational program with the Louisville Orchestra will participate in the program, as well as representatives from classes at duPont Manual and Atherton High Schools and St Francis of Assisi School.

The program will honor those who were killed in the Holocaust with a traditional candle-lighting and prayers.