Vera Schiff

WHAT DO YOU WANT PEOPLE TO LEARN?

Because I believe that the Holocaust, if there is any purpose at all, then it's education. It should serve for the future generations as warning. For the last years of my retirement, I have diligently worked at it. I think if it served a purpose to warn people and create a better relationship with the people, then there is maybe sharpness of the pain to be a little bit dulled by the fact that it wasn't in vain, if that could be achieved. But it takes, I think, efforts, systematic effort, never to give up on educating people. And to my disappointment, I hear that a lot of young people nowadays do not know...

What I would like to say to people is don't take the privilege, the good life, what we have in Canada for granted, It's not. In fact we have an issue, and we have got to work on it to pass it on to the next generation in the same, or perhaps even improved version. Nothing is a free gift. We cannot like turn back and say, well, the job's done. It's not done. Have to work on a better world, day in day out. And this is systematic efforts for all involved teachers and people who have the ear of the young generation. Everybody else goes about the opportunity, so much depends on it...

Is a reminder that what can happen if we are not vigilant, and if we are not doing the right thing. We do know today that all of this was preventable. If people would've dealt with it properly and it should be the lesson for the future generations do the right thing, you will not live to see that type of tragedy. And it, because it is scattered to different metropolises in different cities, it really embraces most of Europe. And I think it will continue perhaps goes to many cities. So it familiarizes people with past tragedy, and hopefully it will deliver a lesson to next generation to offer tolerance, respect. I think the world is right now quite polarized, if we could learn the art of civilized exchange of ideas, the debate, if we may not agree on much, but we should be able to exchange our ideas in a civilized form. People have hurled insults at each, and this is counterproductive…

I think it is a hard work, persist, try to convince, and have a productive rapport, civilized dialogue, you know what? I think what we are doing go wrong within 2 minutes, the tempers fly high, they would hurl at each other insults, end of debate. We have to start the work now very hard to teach people what happens, and try to find ways, how to bring together the extreme left and the extreme, right. If nowhere centre we cannot debate each other, it is a very good approach to teach people tolerance. And I don't want to sound panicky, but we have always to think that we have the weapons of mass destruction and the biological weapons, at our fingertips. You know what you can think, if Hitler would have had what we have today, we probably wouldn't have the conversation. I think it should not be ignored…