El Paso Holocaust Museum and Holocaust survivor, Henry Kellen, was honored at the Cochise College Campus in Douglas, last Thursday. Over 200 people sat in during his two hour long speech and presentation. Among the audience was CAAP, Collegio Americano de Agua Prieta, young students from Sonora, Mexico.

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Kellen wants to make sure the world never forgets the horrors and crimes that the Nazis committed during WWII. He believes that it is our responsibility to keep the lessons of the Holocaust alive. “If we don’t remember events like the Holocaust, we open the door for these events to happen again,” Kellen said.

This event was a great learning experience for all those that attended including the young middle school students from Agua Prieta because both sides of the border need to be aware of our histories past.

David Pettes, Cochise College professor was honored for putting the Kellen team together and always called meetings to get this event underway. And it was carried out just as he planned. Chuck Hoyack, academic dean for the Cochise College, was also an important part in putting this presentation together. They brought many origins together, including bringing Kellen here to Douglas so that the people here can meet and learn from Mr. Kellen himself.

During the ceremony, there was the unveiling of the memorial sculpture to the Children of the Holocaust that was composed of a quarter of a million pennies, dedicated in the name of Henry Kellen and the 1.5 million innocent Jewish children that were murdered in the Holocaust. Jeanette Palmer was one of the Cochise college students that helped out in the implementation of the memorial.

Over the past decade, Kellen has built a strong relationship with the college. Through this special bond, hundreds of students have traveled to the El Paso Holocaust Museum and Study to learn more about the Holocaust and meet Kellen. A lasting result of this friendship has been the creation of the "Holocaust Project" in Douglas, where Cochise students teach the Holocaust to younger students in both Arizona and Sonora, Mexico.