HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. – The installation will host a Holocaust Remembrance Day event and guest speaker at the chapel May 6 from noon to 1 p.m.
The annual observance will honor the memory of the millions who suffered and perished during the Holocaust.
“Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it,” said Alexis Victorian, project officer for the Days of Remembrance and Holocaust Remembrance Day observance. “It [The Holocaust] is one of the worst examples of how prejudice of a group of people can infect others' sound judgement and cause deadly harm.”
The guest speaker will be Werner Salinger, who was 6 years old in Berlin, Germany, when an organized attack known as Kristallnacht, or “Night of Broken Glass,” occurred against the Jewish community in November 1938.
Salinger and his family escaped Germany and moved to the United States in 1939.
During the Korean War, Salinger joined the U.S. Air Force and was later stationed in Germany, where he met his future wife.
On Oct. 7, 1980, then-President Jimmy Carter signed Public Law 96-388 to establish the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. The council is responsible for leading the nation in observing Days of Remembrance and for encouraging observances throughout the United States.
Holocaust Remembrance Day marks the anniversary of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, this year on May 6. The Days of Remembrance begin the Sunday before Holocaust Remembrance Day and last until the following Sunday.
The event is open to all those with base access. Officials ask those interested in attending to RSVP at 66.ABG.HC.CMB@us.af.mil.