Those alive today will be some of the last people to hear first hand recounts of the second World War and the distruction the Holocaust caused. The recent shooting of a synagogue in the United States brings up memories of the anti-semitism of the Holocaust.
Georgine Nash is a Holocaust survivor hoping to keep awareness of the massacre of Jewish people present for the next generation. Nash has recently spoken at Western University as a part of Holocaust Education Week. Her message is to remain educated on history and to make sure that historic tragedies do not repeat themselves.
“When I am able to share my story with a lot of people, now they become aware of what went on. They all have somebody who they are going to talk to about this, even if each person just talks to two other people then it’s going to spread,” Nash continues “we can not let this die. We have to keep talking about it, we have to make sure that people know.”
Georgine Nash speaks with a Western student after her educational storytelling
Nash grew up in Budapest, Hungary and was just three years old when the second World War reached her country. Nash immigrated for Canada 16 years later where she now continues to tell her story and spread her message.
When speaking on the recent synagogue attack in the United States, Nash says “I really, truly believed that this would not happen again. So when this does happen, then one has to wonder what else might happen. It is very, very scary for me.”
Nash hopes she can educate the younger generation into helping to prevent further discrimination.
“Once you hear a Holocaust survivor, than you become a witness yourself. Not exactly the same as living through the horrors of the Holocaust but never the less you are aware and cognizant of it.”
