30th Anniversary Guardians Commemorative Book - Book - Page 120
ENSURING
EDUCATION
The Holocaust
represents the epitome
of evil. It shows the
absolute worst side
of mankind. The United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum is both
essential to preserving the memory of
what happened, and to demonstrating
how hatred and hate speech progress
to violence that escalates into
genocide. We have an obligation
not only as Jews, but as members of
the human race to make sure that
nothing like this ever happens again
to anybody around the world. It’s
part of Jewish morals and ethics; it’s
a piece of tikkun olam.
We believe Holocaust education
is critical, which is why we are
directing the funds in our bequest
to educational programs. Although
our children are well-steeped in
modern Jewish history, many of their
friends and others in their millennial
generation don’t give it much
thought. The threat of antisemitism
doesn’t resonate much with them.
But one can effectively push the
118 l UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM LEGACY OF LIGHT GUARDIANS
lessons of the Holocaust out into
the world by educating educators—
teaching them how to incorporate
these cogent lessons into their
programs and curriculum and make
them more universal.
Frankly, many people in the world say,
‘Why should I care what happened
to Jews in Europe in the 1940s? It
doesn’t affect my life.’ The Museum’s
educational endeavors and digitization
of Holocaust records are incredibly
important as remaining survivors
pass away. It is essential to gather
these oral histories and ensure all of
their memories are filmed or written
down and digitized. These efforts give
scholars anywhere in the world access
to the information via the Internet.
They also provide compelling
evidence that makes it easier to
counter Holocaust denial—claims that
it didn’t happen, it wasn’t as bad as we
say it was, or that not as many people
were killed as is claimed.”
