The Pacific Palisades Democratic Club, making its banquet debut after decades of bagle-and-coffee affairs, savored an outpouring of support Sunday night as 234 people paid $125 apiece to celebrate the life of the late Anne Froehlich. Gathering at the Fairmont Hotel in Santa Monica, the audience heard long and engaging speeches by honorees Daniel Ellsberg and Ron Kovic, who each received a Froehlich Award for Political Courage, in honor of Anne’s “lifelong commitment to civil rights and civil liberties.” She was also one of the club’s founders. “Before Anne died last year she shared her rationale with me for her lifetime of work devoted to the Democratic Party,” said club president Joe Halper. “As a Holocaust survivor, It was her conviction that Hitler could not have come to power had the Jews of Europe been more engaged in political life. Her message to the assembled would have been the importance of staying engaged to preserve democracy.”
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