Ceremony honors genocide victims

Irma Lemus

HILLSIDE DISTRICT -- A special gathering to remember one of the

darkest chapters of the 20th Century drew about 100 of all faiths and

backgrounds to Burbank’s Temple Emanu El.

Tuesday evening’s 14th annual “Days of Remembrance” Holocaust memorial

was sponsored by the Burbank Human Relations Council, 15 Burbank churches

and two Jewish temples.

During the event, Daisy Miller, a Holocaust survivor and director of

foundation relations for the Los Angeles-based Survivors of the Shoah

Visual History Foundation, shared her memories of hiding from the Nazis

as a young child.

“It’s miraculous that we survived. There were some children who were

left completely alone. Life was worst [for them] after the war than

during the war because a lot of these children were abused,” said Miller,

who was born in Yugoslavia in 1938 and fled with her family to Italy in

1941.

Miller’s family was taken in by Italian farmers who hid them from the

Germans, she said.

Like other Holocaust survivors, Miller said she struggled with the

painful memories of her childhood for many years.

“It is important to hear these stories and allow them to be told. For

50 years, we survivors were silent and told to put it behind us,” she

said.

Sylvia Sutton of the Human Relations Council coordinated Tuesday’s

event. She said it was important to remember the 6 million Jews killed in

the Holocaust, including an estimated 1.5 million children.

“These days are set aside to remember the victims of the Holocaust and

to remind Americans that nations are capable of evil and bigotry...”

Sutton said.

A candle-lighting ceremony, in memory of the Jews who were killed

during the Holocaust, was performed by survivors. A seventh candle was

lit to remember those killed throughout the world in other genocides.

Prior to the events at Temple Emanu El, there was a 30-minute ceremony

with the Holocaust survivors at City Hall before the City Council

meeting.

As Miller concluded her speech Tuesday, she urged those in the

audience to honor the memory of Holocaust victims by setting positive

examples.

“We are each responsible, on a daily basis, to not forget by being

open-minded and not judging the differences among us,” she said.