Fort Bliss Monitor

Days of Remembrance ceremony held at Soldier Hall

Sgt. Lewis M. Hilburn
32nd AAMDC

PHOTOS BY SGT. LEWIS M. HILBURN
Henry Kellen, Holocaust survivor, tells those in attendance about some of the atrocities committed in the concentration camps.

The following is an excerpt taken from a pamphlet passed out at a recent observance: “Sixty years ago, as American, British and Soviet soldiers moved across Europe in a series of offensives on Germany, they encountered and liberated concentration camp prisoners. In liberating the Nazi camps, the Soldiers exposed to the world the full horror of Nazi atrocities, lending urgency to the demands for justice. Combat Soldiers were unprepared for what they found in the camps: stacks of dead bodies lying around and barracks filled with dead and dying prisoners. Many were so weak they could hardly move. Disease was an ever present.”

April is designated as Days of Remembrance month for the Holocaust. Fort Bliss observed those who survived and died the Nazi genocide in the early 1940s during World War II with a ceremony held April 14 at Soldier Hall. During the Holocaust, 11 million Jewish citizens and citizens deemed gentiles were summarily slaughtered in concentration camps across Europe. Guest speakers included Rabbi Gerald Kane, Rabbi at the Temple Beth El, Las Cruces, N.M., and Henry Kellen, who is a Holocaust survivor.

In June 1941, Kellen and his family were in Kovno, Lithuania, when the German army gained control. They were placed in an extermination camp for more than three years where Kellen had to watch his family and a large population of Jewish citizens be murdered. Since that time, in honor of the survivors and victims of the Holocaust, Kellen decided to start the Holocaust Museum and Study Center here in 1984, according to Kellen.

Aron Byerly and Ashley Kusko, both from Roth Middle School, light chandles at the Days of Remem-brance observance..

Sgt. First Class Dante Harrell, 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command equal opportunity advisor, was in charge of putting on this observance for Fort Bliss. “Observances, like this one, remind us of our past and where we came from. We learn from our past so we don’t repeat the same mistakes in the future,” he said.

The brutality that was witnessed in World War II may never be seen again but genocide is still happening today according to Harrell. In Cambodia, between 1975 and 1978, 1.7 million Cambodians were slaughtered during the dictatorship of the Khmer Rouge government because countrymen would not conform to their thoughts and views. In 1991 and 1992, an Iraqi dictator systematically tortured and killed hundreds of thousands on unwanted ethnic Muslims and nationalists who were considered government dissidents and were eliminated to maintain his control over the people. In Rwanda, 1994, the Hutu Extremists Party supporters were openly ordering a 100-day killing spree and slaughtered around 800,000 Tutsi and Hutu nationalists to gain power over the country, according to Harrell.

“No matter how brutal our past may be, it’s our history and we need to teach the leaders of tomorrow to insure a better future,” he expressed.



www.bliss.army.mil	Published for the Fort Bliss/El Paso, Texas Community	April 21, 2005

<map name="boxmap-b4"> <area shape="rect" coords="0, 589, 120, 600" href="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm/privacy-policy.html?o=1" > <area coords="0,0,10000,10000" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=&creative=92501&camp=8117&link_code=dl1&path=subst/misc/amazon-cobrand-cc/v3/marketing-from-associates-step1.html/ref%3Db1_assoc_29" > </map>	Days of Remembrance ceremony held at Soldier Hall Sgt. Lewis M. Hilburn 32nd AAMDC PHOTOS BY SGT. LEWIS M. HILBURN Henry Kellen, Holocaust survivor, tells those in attendance about some of the atrocities committed in the concentration camps. The following is an excerpt taken from a pamphlet passed out at a recent observance: “Sixty years ago, as American, British and Soviet soldiers moved across Europe in a series of offensives on Germany, they encountered and liberated concentration camp prisoners. In liberating the Nazi camps, the Soldiers exposed to the world the full horror of Nazi atrocities, lending urgency to the demands for justice. Combat Soldiers were unprepared for what they found in the camps: stacks of dead bodies lying around and barracks filled with dead and dying prisoners. Many were so weak they could hardly move. Disease was an ever present.” April is designated as Days of Remembrance month for the Holocaust. Fort Bliss observed those who survived and died the Nazi genocide in the early 1940s during World War II with a ceremony held April 14 at Soldier Hall. During the Holocaust, 11 million Jewish citizens and citizens deemed gentiles were summarily slaughtered in concentration camps across Europe. Guest speakers included Rabbi Gerald Kane, Rabbi at the Temple Beth El, Las Cruces, N.M., and Henry Kellen, who is a Holocaust survivor. In June 1941, Kellen and his family were in Kovno, Lithuania, when the German army gained control. They were placed in an extermination camp for more than three years where Kellen had to watch his family and a large population of Jewish citizens be murdered. Since that time, in honor of the survivors and victims of the Holocaust, Kellen decided to start the Holocaust Museum and Study Center here in 1984, according to Kellen. Aron Byerly and Ashley Kusko, both from Roth Middle School, light chandles at the Days of Remem-brance observance.. Sgt. First Class Dante Harrell, 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command equal opportunity advisor, was in charge of putting on this observance for Fort Bliss. “Observances, like this one, remind us of our past and where we came from. We learn from our past so we don’t repeat the same mistakes in the future,” he said. The brutality that was witnessed in World War II may never be seen again but genocide is still happening today according to Harrell. In Cambodia, between 1975 and 1978, 1.7 million Cambodians were slaughtered during the dictatorship of the Khmer Rouge government because countrymen would not conform to their thoughts and views. In 1991 and 1992, an Iraqi dictator systematically tortured and killed hundreds of thousands on unwanted ethnic Muslims and nationalists who were considered government dissidents and were eliminated to maintain his control over the people. In Rwanda, 1994, the Hutu Extremists Party supporters were openly ordering a 100-day killing spree and slaughtered around 800,000 Tutsi and Hutu nationalists to gain power over the country, according to Harrell. “No matter how brutal our past may be, it’s our history and we need to teach the leaders of tomorrow to insure a better future,” he expressed.