Holocaust Center to Be Dedicated

The Rosen Holocaust Center of Southern California, at the Jewish Federation of Orange County, will be dedicated Monday. The center will offer Holocaust information and services.

Osi Sladek, the executive director of the center, saw the need for the center. He is a Holocaust survivor and former executive director of Temple Bat Yahm in Newport Beach. “We aim to sensitize people to the danger of a recurrence of violence such as that during the Holocaust and to preserve the rights of all people, regardless of race, creed, sexuality or religion through the memory of man’s inhumanity to man,” he said.

The 2 p.m. dedication ceremony will be at Temple Judea, 24512 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, site of a memorial to the Holocaust. The dedication ceremony will take place the same day as the observance of the 54th anniversary of Kristallnacht , the “night of broken glass.” Kristallnacht occurred in 1938 when Nazi-sanctioned riots broke out in Germany and Austria with the intent of destroying Jewish-owned businesses.

Orange County residents Hy and Rose Rosen contributed funds to establish the center. The actual center is still years away from being built, Sladek said. The organization will conduct outreach education and plans to add a speaker’s bureau. Information: (714) 259-0655.