WEBVTT 00:06.040 --> 00:09.900 mm hmm . Hi , my name is Veronique 00:09.910 --> 00:13.090 Jonas and I'm a docent educator at the 00:13.100 --> 00:14.989 Dallas holocaust and human rights 00:14.989 --> 00:18.870 museum . When did you first 00:18.870 --> 00:21.092 learn about the holocaust ? And how did 00:21.092 --> 00:23.259 the that awareness leads you to decide 00:23.259 --> 00:27.130 to preserve career in education as 00:27.130 --> 00:30.600 a very small child . I heard about the 00:30.600 --> 00:32.810 holocaust all the time because my 00:32.810 --> 00:36.150 parents we were , we were living in the 00:36.150 --> 00:39.260 Congo but they had just left um an 00:39.260 --> 00:41.840 island in Greece called Rhodes island 00:41.840 --> 00:43.896 where they had left all their family 00:43.896 --> 00:46.370 behind . And when the holocaust when 00:46.370 --> 00:48.920 the bald war two started , they were 00:48.920 --> 00:52.320 safe in the Congo . But their family 00:52.320 --> 00:55.310 were all taken in by the nazis and 00:55.310 --> 00:57.800 taken to Auschwitz where they were not 00:57.800 --> 01:01.560 murdered . So I basically lost about 01:02.640 --> 01:06.070 5 , 6 7 aunts and 01:06.080 --> 01:09.300 uncles and all my grandparents in the 01:09.300 --> 01:11.467 holocaust and I never got to know them 01:11.467 --> 01:13.411 and I was very passionate about it 01:13.411 --> 01:16.380 because I felt like well everybody else 01:16.380 --> 01:19.230 has grandparents and I don't . And so I 01:19.230 --> 01:21.174 did a lot of studying and learning 01:21.174 --> 01:23.770 about the holocaust . And when we moved 01:23.770 --> 01:27.550 to Dallas , I found a perfect place to 01:27.550 --> 01:31.210 come and share my experiences and teach 01:31.220 --> 01:34.440 students about the holocaust . And I do 01:34.440 --> 01:38.280 this on a regular basis as a 01:38.280 --> 01:40.502 result of all that you have learned and 01:40.502 --> 01:42.669 experienced by the holocaust . Are you 01:42.669 --> 01:45.002 optimistic that no such atrocity ? Yeah . 01:45.940 --> 01:49.850 Really I am very watchful . But 01:49.850 --> 01:51.750 I'm trying to be optimistic that 01:51.750 --> 01:53.861 something like this will never happen 01:53.861 --> 01:55.972 again . But you may all know that the 01:55.972 --> 01:58.510 holocaust was not the first genocide 01:58.520 --> 02:01.590 ever . No , will it be the last . And 02:01.590 --> 02:03.757 we need to just all be watchful and we 02:03.757 --> 02:06.850 need to educate our students , our 02:06.860 --> 02:10.250 population about the dangers of 02:10.260 --> 02:13.860 hatred and all that can come of it ? 02:15.240 --> 02:17.570 Mm hmm . What is your opinion on how 02:17.570 --> 02:19.737 well our schools are doing in terms of 02:19.737 --> 02:23.650 educating ? Well , we c students coming 02:23.650 --> 02:26.830 through our building In great numbers 02:26.830 --> 02:29.590 at least five some some days we have 5 , 02:29.590 --> 02:33.390 600 students coming in from all 02:33.400 --> 02:36.120 different schools in the area . And 02:36.130 --> 02:38.830 it's wonderful to see them because it 02:38.830 --> 02:40.997 means that they are learning about the 02:40.997 --> 02:43.360 holocaust in school . Um some more than 02:43.360 --> 02:46.260 the others . But I still believe that 02:46.270 --> 02:48.490 this is a very small portion of our 02:48.490 --> 02:50.570 students and our population who know 02:50.570 --> 02:53.580 anything about this horrible part of 02:53.580 --> 02:57.390 our history . Do you think the current 02:57.400 --> 02:59.511 and very prominent national debate on 02:59.511 --> 03:01.678 what parts of history should be taught 03:01.678 --> 03:03.678 in schools will set back efforts to 03:03.678 --> 03:06.040 educate the holocaust and then yes or 03:06.040 --> 03:09.600 no explain . Well I believe that there 03:09.610 --> 03:12.760 is no place in education for 03:12.760 --> 03:16.640 censorship on history because history 03:16.650 --> 03:19.650 is truth and truth should be known . 03:20.140 --> 03:23.670 Whether it's a beautiful truth or an 03:23.680 --> 03:26.660 ugly truth . We learn by mistakes 03:26.960 --> 03:30.050 and that is the way that we should be 03:30.050 --> 03:31.994 teaching our students . So I don't 03:31.994 --> 03:33.994 believe that we should be censoring 03:33.994 --> 03:37.610 history in any way at all . What else 03:37.610 --> 03:39.832 would you like to do to further learn ? 03:39.832 --> 03:42.054 And in turn to educate others about the 03:42.054 --> 03:44.110 holocaust and what would you like to 03:44.110 --> 03:47.400 see society to better chief . Well I I 03:47.400 --> 03:50.490 personally enjoy 03:50.500 --> 03:53.830 reading and I try and read as many 03:53.840 --> 03:56.660 different books on the holocaust and 03:56.670 --> 03:59.140 histories . And I think that students 03:59.140 --> 04:02.160 should too . I think students and 04:02.170 --> 04:05.470 adults should continue learning and 04:05.480 --> 04:08.350 learning and keeping their minds open 04:08.940 --> 04:11.650 about what's going on around them and 04:11.650 --> 04:13.820 especially what went on in history and 04:13.830 --> 04:16.250 try and relate it to what's going on 04:16.260 --> 04:19.910 today and to relate it to the 04:19.920 --> 04:23.920 present basically um learning from 04:23.920 --> 04:26.420 it in order for it not to be repeated 04:26.420 --> 04:30.250 again . And what message would you like 04:30.250 --> 04:32.028 to leave with those listening . 04:33.340 --> 04:37.290 Okay . I believe that people are not 04:37.300 --> 04:40.580 born murderers . They are not born evil . 04:40.660 --> 04:42.950 I believe that we are all inherently 04:42.960 --> 04:46.910 good . But unfortunately we are 04:46.910 --> 04:50.840 surrounded with bad messages with 04:50.850 --> 04:54.440 propaganda with 04:54.450 --> 04:58.270 social media that actually breaks 04:58.270 --> 05:02.060 down that goodness and hatred 05:02.140 --> 05:04.720 comes around just because it's learned 05:04.860 --> 05:07.560 and because people hear about it and 05:08.340 --> 05:11.040 when you're surrounded by it and when 05:11.050 --> 05:14.990 you start believing it the slippery 05:14.990 --> 05:18.260 slope is very slippery . And from 05:18.260 --> 05:21.820 hatred many bad things can happen . And 05:21.820 --> 05:24.590 so we have to learn lessons not only 05:24.590 --> 05:26.950 from the holocaust but from all 05:26.950 --> 05:29.190 different genocides that have happened 05:29.190 --> 05:31.680 in other in other errors and in other 05:31.680 --> 05:34.010 countries . And there are many and we 05:34.010 --> 05:36.540 have a lot of examples in our museum . 05:36.540 --> 05:39.170 So we I encourage you to come and visit 05:39.180 --> 05:41.710 the museum and to bring families to 05:41.710 --> 05:43.766 bring your Children because there is 05:43.766 --> 05:45.877 always something that one can learn . 05:45.877 --> 05:48.110 The most important lesson that we want 05:48.110 --> 05:51.460 our students to leave with is that 05:52.240 --> 05:54.610 we have a choice in life . We can 05:54.620 --> 05:58.380 choose to be up standers , we can 05:58.380 --> 06:01.720 stand up for against evil or we can be 06:01.720 --> 06:04.470 bystanders and just watch evil happen 06:04.480 --> 06:08.030 and just turn the other way . It's 06:08.030 --> 06:11.010 because of so many bystanders that 06:11.020 --> 06:14.050 horrible event such as the holocaust 06:14.050 --> 06:16.220 happen . If there had been more up 06:16.220 --> 06:18.930 standards , it probably would not have 06:18.940 --> 06:20.050 been like it 06:20.050 --> 06:24.460 was . 06:26.630 --> 06:30.860 Yeah , 06:31.740 --> 06:31.920 Yeah .