Today, events to remember the victims and survivors of the Holocaust will be held.
The El Paso Holocaust Museum and Study Center offers visitors a chance to see exhibits that set a timeline of events that occurred leading up to the Holocaust. Lori Shepherd is Executive Director of the El Paso Holocaust Museum and Study. Center She shares the structure of what visitors can see through the different exhibits on display.
“It begins with what life was like before the Nazis took over before the war. It follows what happened to bring about The Holocaust. The rise of Nazism, propaganda, and obviously on to the final solution, and then one of the best parts for me is that we end with liberation, and the survivors gallery, where we show all those folks who came here from Europe and made a new life for themselves here in El Paso,” says Shepherd.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqYy5_6fZUU&feature=youtu.be
The museum’s founder, Henry Kellen came to El Paso from Poland with his wife Julia, and his nephew after World War Two.
“Henry Kellen was born in 1915. He was eventually was interned in the Kovno Ghetto with his family. After witnessing a kinder-action, he realized his nephew was going to be taken away. So he and his wife Julia along with their eight-year old nephew Jerry escaped the ghetto and went into hiding. They hid for four months throughout the remainder of the war in the barn of a kind Lithuanian Farmer. After the war Henry Learned he lost his whole family, his parents, his grandparents, his brother, his sister, they were all lost,” says Shepherd.
Shepherd says after hearing a Holocaust denier on television, Kellen took action and began to share his experiences. He gathered artifacts and educated the community on what happened during the Holocaust.
Kellen passed away last July. The museum is celebrating its 31st year of educating the public, especially young people about the Nazi Holocaust as a way to ensure that events that took place during that time never happen again.
Some events in the area that will be held to remember the Holocaust victims and survivors will take place today at White Sands Missile Range today at 11 a.m. Also, on a remembrance ceremony will take place this Sunday, April 19, 2:00 pm at Temple Mount Sinai in El Paso.