JBER observes Holocaust Remembrance Day

Alaska Jewish Museum Curator and guest speaker, Leslie Fried, explains why it is important to never forget the memory of the millions of people killed during the Holocaust, as well as the survivors, Soldiers and resistance who bore witness to these events during the Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Talkeetna Theater on JBER April 24. The days of remembrance were established to memorialize the six millions Jews murdered in the Holocaust of Nazi persecutions. It is to raise awareness that democratic institutions and values are not simply sustained, but need to be appreciated, nurtured and protected. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Sheila deVera)

JBER observes Holocaust Remembrance Day

Published April 30, 2015
By Air Force Staff Sgt. Sheila deVera
JBER Public Affairs

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- In honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day, service members reflected on the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps during a commemoration ceremony held at the Talkeetna Theater on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson April 24.

The U.S. Congress established the Days of Remembrance as the nation's annual commemoration of the Holocaust, and created the U.S. National Holocaust Memorial Museum as the permanent living memorial to the victims.

During the opening remarks, Air Force Capt. Darold Froemming, 673d Mission Support Group, said the Department of Defense theme for this year's Holocaust Observance is "Keep the Memory Alive."

"Days of remembrance were established to memorialize the six millions Jews murdered in the Holocaust, as well as the millions of non-Jewish victims, of Nazi persecution," Froemming said.
"Days of remembrance raise awareness that democratic institution and values are not simply sustained, but need to be appreciated, nurtured and protected."

"It also clearly illustrates the roots and ramifications of prejudice, racism and stereotyping in any society."

Alaska Jewish Museum Curator and guest speaker, Leslie Fried, explained why it was important to never forget the memory of the millions of people killed during the Holocaust, as well as the survivors, Soldiers and the resistance movements that bore witness to these events.

According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored prosecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.

Holocaust is a word of Greek origin meaning 'sacrifice by fire.'

The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in January 1933, believed that Germans were 'racially superior' and that the Jews, deemed 'inferior,' were an alien threat to the so-called German racial community.