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MUTLI-NATIONAL FORCES IN BAGHDAD SELECT CLAL POET JANET R. KIRCHHEIMER TO HELP MARK "DAYS OF REMEMBRANCE," APRIL 21

Author of How to Spot One of Us, Kirchheimer to Judge Military’s Poetry/Essay Contest; Winning Entries to be Read at Al Faw Palace in Baghdad

Daughter of Survivors, Poet Kirchheimer Featured in Special Video Presentation to the Troops

In honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day, April 21, 2009, the Multi-National Forces in Baghdad will hold a memorial service at Al Faw Palace, one of the former homes of Saddam Hussein. Featured in the ceremony will be poet Janet R. Kirchheimer, Teaching Fellow at CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership.

The daughter of Holocaust survivors and author of the gripping book, How to Spot One of Us (2007), Ms. Kirchheimer has been asked to judge a poetry/essay contest entitled: Never Again: What You Do Matters, and will record the winning entries for a ceremony in Baghdad. The winners will receive a copy of her book. She will also give a talk and read a selection of her poems in a video presentation for the troops at the palace rotunda.

"My grandmother, who died in Auschwitz, would have liked nothing more than to have been liberated by the soldiers of the American army. She wanted to come to America, to live her life in peace with her family" said Ms. Kirchheimer. "April 21 was her birthday, and I can think of no greater way of honoring it than participating in this service. I want to thank the soldiers who risk their lives every day in service to our country. What they do deeply matters."

Originally approached in 2008 by a Major stationed in Iraq who found her work online, Ms. Kirchheimer was asked to provide some of her poems as part of the Days of Remembrance service at U.S. Army Camp Victory in Baghdad. Many of the poems in her book highlight her father’s arrest and deportation to Dachau. Approached again this year by Master Sergeant Keith Walker, she was asked to help create a "special day for the soldiers to remember and talk about for days to come."

"We are strengthening and developing the spiritual core of our soldiers," said Master Sergeant Walker. "This event will remain steady and rooted within the soldiers’ souls. If we are able to enlighten them, our mission will be complete."

In addition to the poetry readings on April 21, a candle lighting service will be held in the palace rotunda. Other ceremonies over the two day period (April 20-22) include a reading of a Days of Remembrance Proclamation/Citation, a moment of silence at the Hope Chapel in Baghdad, and video clips on the Rwandan and Cambodian genocides and the Holocaust, followed by discussion looking at the religious, political/ideological, and economic factors causing these atrocities. .

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