One of my fears, when I became a parent, was that my children would never have the opportunity to meet or hear from a Holocaust survivor at an age where the memory would become strong.
Knowing that we are in a transition to an era where the living witnesses of the horrors of that terrible time and those who directly experienced it are dwindling to zero, I am acutely aware of the burden that will fall upon the generations of the future.
Given the amount of Holocaust denial that already occurs, it's essential that my kids' generation internalizes the lessons as much as possible.
As tonight begins the Holocaust Remembrance Day, we attended an event where Felix Nicinski (oral history) (and another article about his story) spoke of his experiences in ghettoes, slave labor camps, concentration camps, and on the run throughout Germany and Poland during the years of World War II.
It's never easy to hear the stories and we'll never understand the Holocaust in its entirety (tonight I learned a new fact- there were over 42,000 different places that the Germans used to incarcerate Jews in one form or another over the whole of Europe during that time).
Still, it was meaningful that the kids had a chance to remember the 6 million who perished through the words of one who persevered and survived.
Hopefully, this night will stay with them so they can do their part to ensure the lesson of "Never Again!"
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