Recently, I was asked why the topic of Holocaust education is so important to me. I sat there thinking, trying to decide my answer. Eighty years later and what have we learned? What have we, as a nation, accomplished?
Elie Wiesel stated that “those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” Therefore, as a nation and as a world, we have days dedicated to Holocaust remembrance and genocide awareness. But do we, as a nation, understand what that means and reflect on its importance more than once or twice a year?
It’s not just about remembering what happened but about us learning and, as a nation and a world community, doing better for humanity, equality and acceptance.
In 2022 alone, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reported over 3,000 cases of antisemitism in the United States alone. The world has not learned but neither have we.
When we take a day to remember the Holocaust, we should not just remember that one time. We should be active in fighting for our nation and in being role models to others.
Learning from Holocaust survivors
I spent two years of my life working with Holocaust survivors weekly. I had the privilege of hearing their stories. Their accounts of unimaginable horror and unspeakable loss left an indelible mark on my soul. But these stories also inspired me to take on the responsibility of ensuring that future generations never forget.
As I spent more time with survivors, I realized that it’s not just our duty to remember the Holocaust, it’s our privilege. It’s our privilege to have our own country, which is thriving and spreading our light across the world. But as we do so, shouldn’t we take a moment and reflect on our journey to truly understand that it wasn’t easy?
We have the opportunity to learn from the survivors’ resilience and strength and to honor the memory of those who perished by carrying their stories forward. In doing so, we learn more about #equality and #strength and about ourselves.
We can learn the true definition of a hero by reading stories of the righteous among the nations. We can understand the true impact of words from Mein Kampf and we can understand how to fight for our survival from the Warsaw ghetto uprising. The Holocaust is not just a part of our history, its lessons and aftermath are our future.
In order to be a beacon of light, we need to have survived the darkness, and we have, so let’s not just share our light, let’s promote a world of light together.
The writer is currently an Argov Fellow at Reichman University and the founder of the Holocaust education Instagram page @mymissiontoremember.