By Sue Loughlin
INDIANAPOLIS — As she addressed Indiana lawmakers Wednesday, Holocaust survivor Eva Kor described herself as a “dramatic example of the price of prejudice.”
She lost family members in the Holocaust, and she and her twin sister, Miriam, were victims of Dr. Josef Mengele’s human experiments while they were imprisoned at Auschwitz.
Kor addressed the House Education Committee to help win support for a bill that would make Holocaust education mandatory in Indiana as part of high school U.S. history courses.
The bill was written by Rep. Clyde Kersey, D-Terre Haute. This is the third year he has introduced such legislation.
“Prejudice was one of the major evils that made it possible for Hitler to rise to power and murder 11 million innocent people,” Kor said. “Holocaust education is a peaceful and meaningful way in trying to prevent prejudice.”
Her testimony apparently had an effect. The committee unanimously passed the bill, which now goes to the full House for a vote.
The past two years, the bill didn’t even receive a committee hearing, Kersey said. This year, he introduced an amendment that he believes made it more acceptable to those who might have objected.
Before, the bill required that school districts include Holocaust education as part of the curriculum, and some might have interpreted that as requiring a new class and additional teachers.
Under Kersey’s amendment, it would be incorporated into U.S. history, which is a required high school course.
Indiana already includes in state education standards the teaching about the Nazis’ extermination of 6 million Jews in Europe during World War II.
Now, the Holocaust education bill requires that it be taught in U.S. history classes, Kersey said.
He believes Kor’s testimony “had a tremendous impact. She gives compelling testimony,” said Kersey, a member of the Education Committee.
He believes the bill has a good chance of making it through the Senate as well.
A former history teacher, Kersey said he wrote the bill because he believes Holocaust education is important. “If we fail to learn the lessons of history, we’re bound to repeat the same mistakes,” he said.
In her testimony, Kor said that Holocaust education “would be a wonderful way to help our children understand that there is a future after disaster, that there is hope after despair and the idea of never, ever giving up on themselves, and on their dreams, makes everything good possible.”
Kor told representatives she plans a trip to Auschwitz in June and she invited members of the House and Senate to attend. She also asked the legislators to draft a resolution to invite the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, also to visit Auschwitz in June.
Kor believes another trip to Auschwitz is important at this time because of the recent upsurge in those who deny the Holocaust ever happened.
The House committee members did not respond to her invitation to visit Auschwitz, or her proposal to invite Iran’s president, Kor said Wednesday afternoon.
Kor said she was very pleased that the education committee unanimously passed the bill, which would not cost the state any money, according to the Legislative Services Agency.
Sue Loughlin can be reached at (812) 231-4235 or sue.loughlin@tribstar.com.
