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Sonoma County’s Holocaust survivors will be honored in a special event this month.

It will be held Sunday, Sept. 17 at Congregation Ner Shalom in Cotati. Alliance President Barbara Lesch McCaffry said founding members of Sonoma State University’s Alliance for the Study of the Holocaust and others who have made a significant contribution to Holocaust and genocide education will also be honored.

The event is being hosted by the Alliance and Sonoma State’s Center for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide, which offers a lecture series on the Holocaust and genocide, the oldest program of its kind in the western United States.

A photographic exhibit of local survivors by Ilka Hartmann will also be on display, and music will be provided by the Jubilee Klezmer Ensemble.

“Many of the Holocaust survivors who share their stories are now in their 80s and 90s,” said Elaine Leeder, dean of Sonoma State’s School of Social Sciences. “We want to honor them now. It is through studying the Holocaust that we actively keep the memory of the victims alive.”

The primary beneficiary of the Alliance’s fundraising efforts is the Holocaust lecture series, which will begin its 24th season in January 2007 and run through May.

The event is also co-sponsored by SSU’s School of Social Sciences, SSU’s Development Office, and the Jewish Community Center of Sonoma County.

Tickets for the event are $36, and $18 for children under 12 and low-income guests. For more information, contact Barbara Lesch McCaffry at (707) 664-2273 or [email protected].