3:01pm | State Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, co-hosted the state legislature’s observance of Holocaust Memorial Day on Monday, May 2, in the Assembly Chamber at the Capitol building in Sacramento.
The event, which was also hosted by San Diego-area Assemblyman Marty Block, attracted scores of survivors, liberators and their children from throughout the state.
“We take the time to remember,” said Lowenthal, “because to forget is to risk repeating the past.”
During the ceremony, Lowenthal recognized two Long Beach residents: Robyn Solovei and her mother, Dr. Marion Solovei.
Robyn Solovei is a children’s recording artist and a Judiac specialist from the Barbara and Ray Alpert Jewish Community Center. Her mother, Dr. Marion Solovei, is clinical director at Family Service of Long Beach for more than 30 years.
Both women sat with lawmakers on the Assembly floor.
The elder Solovei is a survivor of the Holocaust. Her life was spared because her parents moved the family to South Africa after a number of her relatives were taken by the Nazis.
The mother and daughter are involved in their own family project, “A Reason to Remember,” which seeks to educate others about the deaths of the more than 6 million Jews who were killed during World War II.
The ceremony on Monday was the culmination of a months-long oral history project, according to information provided by one of Lowenthal’s staffers. Students interviewed survivors and liberators and then compiled those stories into a single document.
In a departure from years past, this year’s “document” will be in the form of a video that is available on many Assembly members’ websites.
“The video captures nuance and gives a renewed sense of urgency to this terrible chapter in history,” Lowenthal said.