Governor Honors Victims of Holocaust, Genocide

Gov. George Deukmejian lit a flame of remembrance Thursday to commemorate victims of the Holocaust and called on Californians to remember the world’s genocides so they will not be repeated.

“We honor those loved ones who died in the Holocaust as well as those who suffered in genocides before and after that tragedy,” the governor said during a moving ceremony at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in West Los Angeles. “But we all know in our hearts that there is only one way we can truly do justice to their memory--and that is to convince the world that this must never happen again.”

Deukmejian, whose own aunt was killed by the Ottoman Turks during the Armenian genocide 70 years ago, has often spoken out emotionally as governor on the subject of bigotry.

Last year, he signed a controversial measure providing $5 million to the Wiesenthal Center to help build a Museum of Tolerance. The museum will commemorate the Holocaust of World War II, in which 6 million Jews were killed, and the Armenian genocide, which claimed an estimated 1.5 million lives.

Deukmejian’s invitation to deliver the keynote address at the center’s Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony is a reflection of the Republican governor’s efforts to cement his ties with the Jewish community.

“The genocides of this century have occurred with mindless regularity and unimaginable brutality,” the governor said, his voice cracking with emotion. “First the Armenians suffered. Then the Jews during the Holocaust. Then the Cambodians.”

At the end of the ceremony, Deukmejian was given the honor of lighting the flame of remembrance as his wife, Gloria, and six survivors of the Holocaust stood by.

Trailed by television cameras and photographers, the Deukmejians earlier in the day toured the center’s Holocaust museum, which will be replaced by the new facility.