Holocaust Survivors and Liberators Speak Out
Since Holocaust Remembrance Week, there has been a variety of news, some good, more not.
My aunt Kati (now Kitty Williams) is an Auschwitz survivor. Each year, she has spoken throughout the Omaha region and reached thousands of students with her messages of tolerance and hope.
KETV interviewed her and shared this article and clip:
KETV didn’t get the title of their article quite right. Kati wasn’t just warning about the rise in antisemitism, but also of the increase in othering and hate crimes in the current political climate. She spoke of the rising tide of hate crimes, and then of her hope that the students will learn from her past and the Holocaust.
Her message of the need to come together didn’t reach Arkansas, where a group of white supremacists disrupted a remembrance event in Russell, Arkansas. Sir Beryl Wolfson, a 96-year-old World War II veteran who witnessed the liberation of the camps, was an invited speaker at that event. He shared the same message as Kati does: “Never forget, because it could happen again…I’m trying to get this out to the people so it won’t happen again in any place.”
Other events focused on the recent attack at the Poway synagogue in San Diego, where Lori Gilbert-Kaye was killed while shielding the Rabbi. This occurred six months after the deadly shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.
Antisemitism is rising world-wide. It’s encouraging to see speakers and liberators speak up to educate the young and remind everyone what is at stake.
What is your community doing? Do you have Holocaust education programs in your schools or community?
