BURBANK : Schools Schedule Holocaust Memorials

In remembrance of those affected by the Holocaust, Burbank has scheduled a series of educational and memorial programs, including talks by survivors of the Nazi death camps and the American soldiers who liberated them.

“The speakers will be emphasizing that it did happen and they’re speaking to make sure it will never happen again to any race,” said Sylvia Sutton, coordinator of the Burbank Human Relations Council, a volunteer organization devoted to reducing tension between racial, ethnic and religious groups.

The commemorative events in Burbank will coincide with “Days of Remembrance,” a week set aside by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council.

All eighth- and 11th-graders at public schools in Burbank will attend talks, Sutton said, and several Catholic elementary school have invited survivors and liberators to speak to their students.

Burbank Mayor Bill Wiggins has declared April 25 as Holocaust Memorial Day in the city.

A memorial observance is slated that day at 7:45 p.m. Calvary Baptist Church in Burbank. Abe Cheslow, who was a liberator at the Dachau concentration camp, along with Rene Drexler and Vernon Ruscheen, both of whom survived Auschwitz, will speak.