Holocaust Remembrance Day is Friday. How to participate in the Coachella Valley

Julie Makinen, Palm Springs Desert Sun
·2 min read
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Holocaust survivor Rickie Taras lights a candle to honor the memory of the millions of men, women and children killed in the holocaust during the International Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at Civic Center Park in Palm Desert, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022.
Holocaust survivor Rickie Taras lights a candle to honor the memory of the millions of men, women and children killed in the holocaust during the International Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at Civic Center Park in Palm Desert, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022.

The vice consul-general of Israel, Palm Desert Mayor Kathleen Kelly, Palm Springs Mayor Grace Garner and a number of Coachella Valley faith leaders will gather Friday in Palm Desert to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorates the victims of the Holocaust, during which more than 6 million Jewish people and other minorities were killed between 1933 and 1945 by Nazi Germany. Jan. 27 was selected for the date because that is when the Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated by Soviet forces in 1945.

Here's what to know:

Where is it?

Palm Desert Civic Park Amphitheater,  43-900 San Pablo Ave., Palm Desert

When is it?

11 a.m. Friday

Who's attending?

  • Amit Mekel, vice consul general of Israel

  • The Rev. Andrew Butler, St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in Palm Desert

  • Holocaust survivor Henry Friedman

  • Palm Springs Mayor Grace Garner

  • Palm Desert Mayor Kathleen Kelly

  • Steve Geiger, Mensch Foundation founder

  • Cantor Joseph Gole, Har-El Congregation, Palm Desert

  • Rabbi Benny Lew

  • Alan Potash, CEO of Jewish Federation of the Desert

Who is organizing this?

The Mensch Foundation. The foundation was created by Steven Geiger in 2002, in his words, “to develop an educational curriculum to stamp out stereotyping and anti-Semitic and racist thinking.” The foundation's goal is “to develop a tolerant social order of values which respects minority rights and freedom of speech and worship.”

Steven Geiger speaks during the International Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at Civic Center Park in Palm Desert, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022.
Steven Geiger speaks during the International Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at Civic Center Park in Palm Desert, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022.

Geiger's paternal grandparents and dozens of other relatives were killed at Auschwitz. His father was in a concentration camp and he was liberated by the U.S. Army. It's because of this family history that he is so passionate about educating young people on the atrocities of the past. “I started the Mensch International Foundation in the desert so that young people can know about what happened to millions of Jews," he told The Desert Sun last year.

Need more information?

Visit https://www.menschfoundation.org/ or email menschfoundation@yahoo.com

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Holocaust Remembrance Day to be marked Friday in Palm Desert