A commemoration of Holocaust Remembrance Day was held Sunday at Pan Pacific Park, marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps and the end of World War II.
The commemoration featured a conversation with Erika Fabian, who spent most of her childhood hiding from the Nazis.
“I knew that if I told the truth as to who I really was, I would get killed, my mother would get killed, my sister would get killed, so I became an absolutely expert liar,” Fabian said. “I didn’t stop lying until I was in America at age 20, when I got married, and my American husband said, `You don’t have to lie anymore.”’
The commemoration acknowledged the devastation of January’s Palisades and Eaton fires with remarks from Rabbi Amy Bernstein of Kehillat Israel, the Pacific Palisades synagogue that survived the fire.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass made brief remarks.
The annual commemoration was held in conjunction with Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. Under a 1951 resolution approved by the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, Yom HaShoah is observed on the 27th day of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar, which began at sundown Wednesday and ended at sundown Thursday.
The commemoration was organized by Holocaust Museum LA, which is located in Pan Pacific Park.
President Donald Trump issued a proclamation on Wednesday declaring April 20 through Sunday as the Days of Remembrance of Victims of the Holocaust and asked the nation to observe “the solemn anniversary of the liberation of Nazi death camps with appropriate study, prayers and commemoration and to honor the memory of the victims of the Holocaust and Nazi persecution by remembering the lessons of this atrocity so that it is never repeated.”
“During these Days of Remembrance of Victims of the Holocaust, we reflect upon the dark affront to human dignity posed by Nazis,” Trump said in his proclamation. “We cherish the eternal memories of all those whose lives were lost to the deadly scourge of antisemitism.
“Above all, we vow to never forget the atrocities of the Holocaust. We declare that never again means now.”