CLEARWATER, Fla., Jan. 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Florida chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a nonprofit mental health watchdog organization established by the Church of Scientology, will commemorate the International Holocaust Memorial Day on Friday, January 26, 2018 by co-hosting a complimentary banquet at the Historic Ybor Square, located at 1300 E. 8th Ave., Tampa, home of the Church of Scientology Tampa.  Israeli opera singer, Judy Bechar, will perform, "My Yiddishe Momme," in the memory of the Holocaust victims. Ms. Bechar and CCHR Florida’s Executive Director, Samuel Guillard, will give a brief presentation that expands on the Holocaust, its origination, and the widespread impact it has on society even today.

The systematic murder of around two-thirds of the Jewish population of Europe, known commonly as the Holocaust, but also referred to as the Shoah, is commemorated each year on the day that the Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated by the Soviets, nearly 8 months before the official end of the war. The Holocaust Memorial Day, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, refers to various countries' designated day of honoring the victims, survivors, and rescuers of the Holocaust.

CCHR will discuss the history of German psychiatrists who proposed the extermination of mental health patients and developed systems to murder patients by the thousands with euthanasia, including sterilizing patients for eugenic purposes¹. According to CCHR, medical professionals who participated in the post-Holocaust Nuremberg trials concluded that the Holocaust would not have taken place without psychiatry’s influence and irreplaceable role.

For more information on the event, to confirm your attendance, or any questions about psychiatric abuses, please call CCHR Florida at 727-442-8820 or visit www.cchrflorida.org.

About CCHR:
Initially established by the Church of Scientology and renowned psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz in 1969, CCHR’s mission is to eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health and enact patient and consumer protections.

It was L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, who brought the terror of psychiatric imprisonment to the notice of the world.  In March 1969, he said, “Thousands and thousands are seized without process of law, every week, over the ‘free world’ tortured, castrated, killed.  All in the name of ‘mental health.’”

SOURCES:
1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23511221

Media Contact:
Diane Stein
President, CCHR Florida
727-442-8820
diane@cchrflorida.org
www.cchrflorida.org