Residents pay respect to victims on International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Friday is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Many around the world, and right here in the Coachella Valley, are paying homage to the millions who lost their lives.

KESQ News Channel 3 and CBS Local 2 went to 8th annual observance held at Civic Center Park in Palm Desert on Friday morning, where many local residents honored and remembered those who were killed in Auschwitz and a number of other concentration camps such as Belzec, Begen, Belsen, and Buschenwald.

Henry Friedman, a holocaust survivor and guest speaker for the event, says he’s glad to still be alive, to share his experience with young people.

“Number one, that I’m still alive and I’m still around and because of it… My duty not to forget the past for people that are not around.” says Friedman. “Everyday to me is a plus, I smile everyday I get up. Especially being in Palm Desert during the winter. And getting up everyday to a beautiful sunshine.”

President Trump released the following statement on Friday:

“It is with a heavy heart and somber mind that we remember and honor the victims, survivors and heroes of the Holocaust. It is impossible to fully fathom the depravity and horror inflicted on innocent people by Nazi terror.”