The Tolerance Education Center in Rancho Mirage hosted the awards ceremony for Holocaust Survivor Frances Nassau. The California Assembly awards a Holocaust Survivor each year during Holocaust Memorial Week.
Assemblyman Brian Nestande presented Frances Nassau with this years award. Normally the event is held in northern California but this year they decided to hold the event in the Desert. Nestande said he hopes the ceremony will continue to be held here at the Tolerance Center.
Children from the Jewish Community School of the Desert and students from Cathedral City High School came to witness the award. The Tolerance Center is an education center where children learn about the horrors of War, the Holocaust, Bigotry and Bullying of all races and faiths.
Frances Nassau spoke to the guests about her years of occupation during World War II. She lost her parents and her brother in the Auschwitz camp. She spoke of the hardships and terror of the people in the camps. She was rescued at the end of the war and weighed only 65 pounds and was very ill. She is thankful to be alive. She donated the prison clothing her husband had kept all these years to the Center.