In 1905, a Spanish philosopher wrote words that have been repeated often during the past 111 years: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Other philosophers and world leaders have borrowed George Santayana’s thought through the years, but the notion is the same: Learn from past atrocities and make sure they don’t happen again.
That’s one reason families of Holocaust survivors and a Holocaust liberator will speak on “Confronting the Holocaust…and the Aftermath,” at 2 p.m. Sunday at the South Carolina State Museum in the Gervais Street Room. The event is free to the public and light refreshments will be served.
The panel will feature Dr. Lilly Filler, Dr. Henry Miller, and Mr. Henry H. Goldberg, all representing families of Holocaust survivors. Major T. Moffatt Burriss, a liberator of concentration camps, will join them. The discussion, moderated by Robin Waites, executive director of Historic Columbia, will focus on the personal experiences of the survivors, the eyewitness account of the liberator, and the lessons the Holocaust should teach.
“We should never let the rhetoric of hatred or fear guide us,” Dr. Filler, co-chair of the Columbia Holocaust Education Commission, says in a news release. “We are the family of mankind and there is no place for apathy or indifference.”
“The lesson in teaching the Holocaust is to remember.”
Historic Columbia, the Columbia Holocaust Education Commission, the South Carolina State Museum and the City of Columbia are sponsoring the panel discussion.
The presentation is associated with Historic Columbia’s Columbia Jewish Heritage Initiative, a multi-discipline project documenting as well as providing access to and awareness of local Jewish history, sponsored by Central Carolina Community Foundation, City of Columbia, and S.C. Humanities.
Holocaust Remembered, an exhibition memorializing the victims of the Holocaust and honoring the South Carolina survivors and liberators by telling their personal stories, is presented by CHEC each spring. This year the exhibition is on view at the South Carolina State Museum through April 16 and the Kahn Jewish Community Center April 18–May 8.
Over the past 5 years, approximately 4,000 school age children have viewed the exhibition, as well as given the opportunity to hear personal testimonies from survivors. Private tours are encouraged and are available for schools and all other interested parties.
Originally published HERE.
