Clark Shawnee Middle School students learn from Holocaust survivor

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

A man who survived the Holocaust spoke to Clark Shawnee Middle School students Friday about the importance of never forgetting the tragedies that took place in Europe.

Dr. Al Miller was a young child in Germany at the start of the Nazi regime before he and his family fled to America. He recounted the times when his classmates would start and end the school day with a Nazi salute and the fear he had when he realized what the Nazi’s agenda was.

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“My grandparents were born in Berlin and lived their entire life in Berlin,” Miller said. “My father served in the Germany army during the first world war. He was fighting on the Russian front.

“Our family was German. We were proud Germans and very patriotic Germans and Jewish, but so what. But the so what is what came to haunt us later on.”

Miller talked about the gas chambers and the millions of people who were killed during the Holocaust. Miller eventually became an optometrist in Ohio and served the community for more than 40 years.

Alexander Ryan, president and CEO of the Holocaust Remembrance Project, said it is important for middle school-aged kids to learn about the events of the Holocaust, as they are the last generation who will be able to hear the stories in person.

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“History repeats itself. People need to realize what happened during the most horrific event in human history and what better way to prepare ourselves for the future than educate ourselves of the past,” he said.

The Columbus-based Holocaust Remembrance Project presents programs about the Holocaust and World War II.

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