NAVCENT holds Holocaust remembrance ceremony

ByNAVCENTPublicAffairs

U.S. Naval Forces Central Command / U.S. 5th Fleet

MANAMA, Bahrain U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) held a Holocaust remembrance ceremony at the U.S.NavybaseinBahrain,April30,tohonor andrememberthevictimsandsurvivors.

MembersoftheU.S.diplomaticandmilitary community in Bahrain attended and participated in the remembrance ceremony, including the U.S. ambassador to BahrainandRearAdm. SeanBailey, deputy commanderofNAVCENTandU.S.5thFleet

“As we remember innocent victims who endured tragic and unthinkable circumstances at the hands of antisemitism, we also honor the perseverance, courage and strengthofthosewhosurvived,”saidBailey during remarks at the ceremony. “We must rejectprejudice,wemustrejecthatespeech andwemustrejectantisemitism.”

The Holocaust was a systemic genocide, killing six million Jews and millions of othersfrom1938to1945 beforeandduring World War II. Guest speaker U.S. Ambassador to Bahrain Steven Bondy, noted the unimaginable perils victims and survivors faced “Families were erased. Mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, children and grandchildren, were brutally murdered,” said Bondy “The reverberations of these crimes against humanity live in our collec- tive memory because we made a deliberate efforttoreport,studyandteachpeopleabout the Holocaust All driven by an unshakable commitment ‘neveragain.’”

Thisyear’sDepartmentoftheNavytheme for Holocaust remembrance was “Home and Belonging,” to highlight the humanity of victims and survivors Lt Levi Ceitlin, a rabbi and command chaplain for U.S. 5th Fleet Task Force 52, spoke at the ceremony anddescribedanencounterhehad15years agowithaHolocaustsurvivor

“I was in Prague and met a Holocaust survivor who was liberated from a camp 45 miles outside of the city, and he took me there and showed me the camp from his perspective,” said Ceitlin. “He showed me what he actually experienced. It was a surreal moment that brought an unimaginableexperiencetolife Itmadeitreal.”

Bailey also honored the 550,000 Jewish menandwomenwhoservedintheU.S.military with distinction during World War II. Some were captured and placed in concentration camps, 10,000 died in combat and 36,000receivedcitationsforvalor

“JewishAmericanwarfightersmaintained theirresilienceandcourage, saidBailey

NAVCENT includes 8,000 American personnelandfamiliesstationedinBahrain and operating in the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Red Sea, parts of the Indian Ocean and three critical choke points at the Strait ofHormuz,SuezCanalandBabal-Mandeb.