NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — It's been 80-years since the liberation of the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. The anniversary was marked this past week with International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
That's also when a special guest visited some local high schools -- with an important message about history.
Sami Steigmann was a small child when Nazi leaders began eradicating Jewish people from Germany.
“I have no memories of that period of time I was in a labor camp for Two and a half years, from 1941 to 1944,” Steigmann told us. “Okay, in the former Soviet Union. Today it's an Ukraine. Name of the camp was Mogilev Podolsk.”
Steigmann had no direct memories, but he did have stories of the experience, from his parents and others. Vivid details that he never shared, until he visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. more than 20 years ago.
“It opened it up only to the Holocaust survivors, their children and their liberators,” he said. “There were over 8,000 people from all over the world… I finally felt I belong to both generations. I decided to stop ignoring being a Holocaust survivor.”
A few years later, Steigmann joined the Museum of Jewish Herigage, a living memorial to the Holocaust in New York City. In 2008, he got his first assignment to speak to sixth graders. Steigmann says he was surprised when, days later, some of those students sent him thank you notes, including a simple yet powerful message from an 11 year old girl.
“The sixth grader changed my life forever,” Steigmann says. “She wrote, PS, your story was overwhelming, and I promised I'll pass your story to my children.”
“My need is to teach and to share by talking to students, employees of various major organizations, campuses everywhere,” he says.
That includes campuses in Nashville. Last week, Steigmann accepted invitations to speak at a number of schools, including Martin Luther King Magnet High School, where students packed the auditorium to hear his story.
“I am a Holocaust survivor, which means I was in one of the three type of camps that existed,” Steigmann explained, continuing with vivid, often graphic details. “When the people came to the camp, the commander, many times a doctor, whose job is to save lives, would never say a single word. Would just point, right, left, right, left. One group would be murdered right away. The second one would become slaves. My parents and I were together, okay, in a labor camp. So therefore I'm also a child of Holocaust survivors, because both of my parents survived in the labor camp,” he said.
His presentation is intentionally direct, challenging his audiences with questions, and names.
“Please repeat after me loudly,” he asked the students. “Okay, the names that I'm going to say, Auschwitz, Birkenau, you. Again, Auschwitz, Birkenau.”
The 85 year old then moved from the stage into the crowd, a technique he says keeps students alert and listening.
“So let me ask your question, okay, how many people were murdered by the Nazis?” he asked one student, who replied “I thought it was like 6 million?” “Very good answer!” Steigmann said. “But 6 million were Jews. In total, they murdered 11 million, which means 6 million were Jews, but 5 million were not Jewish people. Okay, so the Holocaust is not a Jewish issue. It's a humanitarian. It's a universal issue, and we have to talk about the Holocaust forever and ever,” he said.
And therein lies the core of his message, and mission.
“So I want the young people to see the signs of today, to learn from history, not to make comparisons, to learn from history,” he told us. “To see the signs of today and to know how to combat and hopefully prevent future tragedies.”
For more information about Sami Steigmann and his work, head to https://www.samispeaks.com
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at rhori.johnston@newschannel5.com.
With new technology comes new ways to help people. This story shows a great use of AI that is starting to be rolled out in Tennessee. This one can help those who may be blind, deaf or neurodiverse navigate the Tennessee State Library and Archives from an app on their smart phone.
-Lelan Statom
