Abraham Pasternak, of Southfield, lost his father, mother and brother upon their arrival at the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland.
West Bloomfield resident George Vine was taken to a concentration camp at 13 years old.
Edith Berman, a Troy resident, would be dead today if the gas chamber she was taken into did not malfunction.
In honor of the first International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, the three Holocaust survivors lit candles Friday at the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills.
The United Nations General Assembly marked Jan. 27 as a day for the world to remember the Holocaust, on the 61st anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
An audience of many ages sat silently in a conference room of the Holocaust Memorial Center throughout the ceremony.
Rep. David Law, R-Commerce Township, spoke at the event about the purpose of the day.
"Commemoration is the first function of the day," he said. "Education is the second function of the day — hatred has consequences. The third function is to condemn those that have denied (the Holocaust)."
Rabbi Charles Rosenzveig, director of the center, denounced those who refuse to acknowledge the Holocaust, and recognized the survivors who were present.
"This is a very serious moment," he said. "We have a number of survivors from Auschwitz here today. They haven't been contaminated by the evil they have experienced.
"They are living witnesses of the Holocaust."
Geoff Rottman, 15, Brad Gladstone, 15, and Lori Goldman, 14, all students at the Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit, lit their candles from the survivors' candles.
A group prayer ended the event.
Charles Silow, the director of the Program for Holocaust Survivors and Families, a Holocaust survivor support group, said this time in history should always be remembered.
"Everyone needs to remember the result of evil," he said. "To see this as what, basically, people are capable of doing. This is serious. The world has not learned.
"We have to work together to fight evil."
Edna William, a Royal Oak Township resident, stayed after the event looking at the Holocaust images hung on the wall of the conference room.
"We must not forget," she said, shaking her head.
