SOLEMN MEMORIES; L.A. JEWS PAUSE TO RECALL HOLOCAUST.

Byline: Greg Gittrich Daily News Staff Writer

Maria Julianelli remembers the Holocaust all too well.

She remembers tucking her skinny arms between her body and a rough cement floor and trying to muffle her breath because one word, one whisper could have meant death for her, her family and the dozen or so Jews she was helping to hide from the Nazis.

``We would wake up to the sound of crying and screaming from the streets,'' Julianelli, 65, recalled Tuesday, Yom HaShoah, the day of remembrance for those who died in the Holocaust.

``Those things you don't forget. But many people don't remember. The atrocities are here again, right now in Yugoslavia and Kosovo.''

Because she helped hide Jews from the Nazis during World War II, Julianelli will be honored as part of the observance of Yom HaShoah. But for her and others who took part in ceremonies Tuesday, the day takes on special significance as a war of ``ethnic cleansing'' again rages in Europe.

``What's happening in Kosovo shows people do forget, or some people did, because it's happening now,'' said 12-year-old Shaina Goelman, a student at Adat Ari El School. ``It's awful.''

Shaina was among the nearly 1,200 schoolchildren who held a vigil Tuesday at the Los Angeles Holocaust Monument in Pan Pacific Park. Singer Barry Manilow took part in the vigil and presented an award of $10,000 from the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles to the Kosovo Refugee Relief Fund of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.

Money being raised by the committee is used to provide food, medicine and shelter to refugees from Kosovo.

The one-hour vigil in English, Czech and Spanish featured accounts by child survivors of the Holocaust and the traditional lighting of the monument's Flames of Memory.

``This makes people really understand what happened and how many people died,'' Shaina said. ``We shouldn't let it happen again.''

Julianelli said it is a responsibility of her generation to tell the next what happened in Europe about 60 years ago.

``The Germans were just slaughtering everyone and everything,'' she said. ``That's happening again. It's our responsibility as grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles to inform a new generation that yes, it did happen, and if we don't take care of things it could happen again.''

Julianelli helped fellow Christians hide Jews in a cottage at the base of the Apennine Mountains. For three years, she carried wheat and potatoes by the handful to those hiding, washed the refugees' clothes and kept on eye out for Nazis.

Her father was imprisoned by the Germans for nearly seven years. Her mother and aunts were beaten by Nazis. Her childhood was savaged by war.

``There were wall-to-wall people in my house,'' Julianelli said. ``We wanted to get them inside, get them warm and help them move on to safety.''

By the end of World War II in 1945, about 6 million Jews - more than two-thirds of the Jewish men, women and children in Europe - had been killed.

By last count, 631,000 ethnic Albanians have fled Kosovo, leaving behind their homes and an unknown number of mass graves.

On Friday, Valley Beth Shalom in Encino plans to honor Julianelli, a resident of Los Angeles since 1949, and many Italian-Jewish survivors of the Holocaust. While the celebration will commemorate their heroic efforts, Julianelli hopes it will also educate generations about the atrocities of genocide.

``Our life was enriched because we did what we were supposed to do,'' Julianelli said. ``It wasn't just one family or one town or one city. It was everyone helping to save the lives of those in need.''

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

PHOTO (1) Schoolchildren react with emotion Tuesday while listening to a Holocaust survivor talk at Pan Pacific Park in Los Angeles.

(2) Singer-songwriter Barry Manilow greets students during Yom HaShoah ceremonies.

Gus Ruelas/Daily News