LA JOLLA, California (Press Release) — On Sunday, May 1, at 1:30 p.m. the San Diego community will present a special Holocaust commemoration (Yom Hashoah) program. The event will be held at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, in the Garfield Theater, 4126 Executive Drive, La Jolla. The theme will be “Remember, Honor, and Teach: Our Survivors, Their Lives and Legacies.” May 1 is the 60th anniversary of Holocaust commemorations throughout the world.
Dr. Marilyn Harran, scholar, author, and professor of Holocaust education, will speak. Her talk will be followed by a 20-minute documentary film produced especially for this program. In the film three local survivors speak about their lives before the Holocaust and how they survived. Bonnie Bart, who produced the film, is a local film maker who also produced last year’s acclaimed Liberation: 65 Years Later film.
The program will open with a military color guard reminiscent of camp liberation, a musical presentation, and a traditional candle lighting ceremony, with candles lit by six Holocaust survivors and the Reverend Canon Jack E. Lindquist representing the non-Jewish community. Interspersed throughout the program will be musical selections. The entire event will last approximately 90 minutes.
Dr. Marilyn Harran is a professor in the departments of religious studies and history at Chapman University. She was a contributing writer to and consultant on The Holocaust Chronicle: A History in Words and Pictures. Dr. Harran has been an Associate of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in addition to many other prestigious appointments and awards. In 2008 she received the “Spirit of Anne Frank Award” from the Anne Frank Foundation.
The Holocaust Commemoration has been held in San Diego for more than three decades and is believed to be the largest in the United States. Last year more than 700 people attended.
This important event is a collaboration of the New Life Club, the Jewish Community Relations Center of the Jewish Federation of San Diego County, the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center Jacobs Family Campus, the Agency for Jewish Education, Jewish Family Service, Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego, the Center for Jewish Culture, and the San Diego Rabbinical Association.
The event is free and open to the public. For more information about the 2011 Community Holocaust Commemoration contact event chair Michael Bart, at mikebart@roadrunner.com
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Preceding provided by the Jewish Federation of San Diego County