Hiroshima students learn about Holocaust before study tour to Europe
Feb. 13, 2015
by Rie Nii, Staff Writer
Students from high schools and universities in the Hiroshima area, who will take part in a study tour to Europe in late March, participated in a study session to prepare for the trip. The tour, sponsored by the Hiroshima Peace Creation Fund, will involve a visit to Poland and the Netherlands to learn about the Holocaust, the genocide of the Jewish people by Nazi Germany during World War II. At the study session, the students listened to lectures from teachers at Hiroshima City University, who shared background information on the Holocaust as well as how this event is being handed down to the next generation.
Masashi Urabe, an associate professor in the Faculty of International Studies, spoke about Auschwitz-Birkenau, a Nazi concentration camp, and Anne Frank. As for their learning during the tour, and sharing their findings with others, Mr. Urabe encouraged them by saying, “Please consider the historical facts first and confirm the truth. Then think about what you can do and present your views.”
Makiko Takemoto, an assistant professor at the Hiroshima Peace Institute, explained the background and history of the Holocaust. Ms. Takemoto told the students that, rather than a “Jewish race,” the Jewish people were bound by their common faith. They had suffered discrimination and persecution, she said, since the era of the Crusades and were then freed from discrimination after the French Revolution. Ms. Takemoto went on to explain how Adolf Hitler gained political power in Germany from the end of World War I and pointed out that people who were not Jewish, such as those who were disabled or homosexual, also became victims of the Nazi genocide.
Ms. Takemoto also described efforts made in Germany after World War II to take advantage of the lessons learned for the future as “a process to overcome the past.” Referring to meetings with local young people that will take place in Poland and the Netherlands during the tour, she said, “Each country has its own history. Please carefully consider the message you will deliver from Hiroshima before your departure.”
Fumiko Tokimori, 19, a freshman at the Prefectural University of Hiroshima and one of the tour participants, said, “I want to prepare for the tour by studying hard and gaining more knowledge through books and films.” Maiko Hanaoka, a first-year high school student and a junior writer for the Chugoku Shimbun, said, “I want to be well prepared for the meetings by anticipating the kinds of questions and opinions that will be expressed.”
(Originally published on February 10, 2015）
Students from high schools and universities in the Hiroshima area, who will take part in a study tour to Europe in late March, participated in a study session to prepare for the trip. The tour, sponsored by the Hiroshima Peace Creation Fund, will involve a visit to Poland and the Netherlands to learn about the Holocaust, the genocide of the Jewish people by Nazi Germany during World War II. At the study session, the students listened to lectures from teachers at Hiroshima City University, who shared background information on the Holocaust as well as how this event is being handed down to the next generation.
Masashi Urabe, an associate professor in the Faculty of International Studies, spoke about Auschwitz-Birkenau, a Nazi concentration camp, and Anne Frank. As for their learning during the tour, and sharing their findings with others, Mr. Urabe encouraged them by saying, “Please consider the historical facts first and confirm the truth. Then think about what you can do and present your views.”
Makiko Takemoto, an assistant professor at the Hiroshima Peace Institute, explained the background and history of the Holocaust. Ms. Takemoto told the students that, rather than a “Jewish race,” the Jewish people were bound by their common faith. They had suffered discrimination and persecution, she said, since the era of the Crusades and were then freed from discrimination after the French Revolution. Ms. Takemoto went on to explain how Adolf Hitler gained political power in Germany from the end of World War I and pointed out that people who were not Jewish, such as those who were disabled or homosexual, also became victims of the Nazi genocide.
Ms. Takemoto also described efforts made in Germany after World War II to take advantage of the lessons learned for the future as “a process to overcome the past.” Referring to meetings with local young people that will take place in Poland and the Netherlands during the tour, she said, “Each country has its own history. Please carefully consider the message you will deliver from Hiroshima before your departure.”
Fumiko Tokimori, 19, a freshman at the Prefectural University of Hiroshima and one of the tour participants, said, “I want to prepare for the tour by studying hard and gaining more knowledge through books and films.” Maiko Hanaoka, a first-year high school student and a junior writer for the Chugoku Shimbun, said, “I want to be well prepared for the meetings by anticipating the kinds of questions and opinions that will be expressed.”
(Originally published on February 10, 2015）
