Naval Air Technical Training Center service members attended an hour-long Holocaust Remembrance Day observance, May 5, in the facility's Charles A. Taylor Hangar.

Organized by the NATTC Command Diversity Council, the observance included presentations from CDC members, as well as a speech from guest speaker Ms. Lori Ripps, a Pensacola resident and the daughter of two Polish Holocaust survivors.

NATTC Commanding Officer Capt. Hugh Rankin said the command's observance of Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) is an integral part of showcasing the diversity of the United States Navy to the staff and the thousands of students attending classes at the command.

"The U.S. Navy has a diverse population, something which is reflected at NATTC and celebrating our differences and learning about each other's culture and beliefs makes us a better organization," he said. "The NATTC Command Diversity Council does an outstanding job of making sure our staff and students are exposed to different cultures and observances, and events such as our Holocaust Remembrance Observation serve as a reminder of some of the world's darkest days, and why we stress equality and cultural understanding."

The Holocaust was the state-sponsored, systematic persecution and annihilation of European Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945. Jews were the primary victims - six million were murdered; Roma and Sinti (Gypsies), people with mental and physical disabilities, and Polish citizens were also targeted for destruction or decimation for racial, ethnic, or national reasons. Millions more, including homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, Soviet prisoners of war, and political dissidents, also suffered grievous oppression and death under Nazi Germany.

Ripps, originally from Philadelphia, spoke about the atrocities her then 14-year-old mother endured when she was taken from her parents, and forced to survive in a Nazi concentration camp with her sister. She was ultimately liberated from that camp and subsequently immigrated to Canada, where she met Ripps' father, also a Holocaust survivor and the only member of his family to survive Nazi atrocities.

Naval Air Technical Training Center instructor and Command Diversity Council member Aviation Machinist's Mate 1st Class (AW/SW) Eric Bobadilla said Ripps' lecture provided an insight into something he had previously only known about through school.

"Hearing what this family has endured really opened my eyes to what happened to this group of people decades ago," he said. "I hope everyone who heard her speak today can understand and appreciate what these individuals [Holocaust victims] endured for no other reason than because they were different. Her words really struck me and I know the students here today can have a deeper appreciation of what we represent as individuals serving our country and adhering to the Navy's Core Values."

In 1980, Congress unanimously passed legislation to establish the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, which was charged with ensuring that a living memorial be established to honor the victims and survivors of the Holocaust and that a national day of remembrance of victims of the Holocaust be established and held annually.

The NATTC Command Diversity Council organizes events to raise cultural awareness, morale and understanding.

For more than 70 years, NATTC has been providing training and increasing readiness within the Naval Aviation Enterprise. The facility graduates approximately 15,000 Navy, Marine Corps and international students annually and is the largest training facility in the Navy, post-Recruit Training Command.

NATTC is part of the Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training, which provides single site management for Navy and Marine Corps aviation technical training.

CNATT is the technical training agent for the Naval Aviation Enterprise, an organization designed to advance and sustain naval aviation warfighting capabilities at an affordable cost, and is the largest training center under the Naval Education and Training Command.

For more news from Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training, visit http://www.navy.mil/.