Guest Lecture: John Chillag - Learning from the Holocaust

As part of the Senator George Mitchell Seminar Series, John Chillag delivered a powerful and moving speech to mark the 64th anniversary of the Nazi occupation of Hungary. The audience first heard the impressions of two students from Abbey Grange School, who visited Auschwitz-Birkenau in late February. Rebakah commented, "Although a traumatic experience, I'm glad I had the chance to visit Auschwitz - to learn what atrocities had happened and make me realise that situations like the Holocaust should never happen again". John's seminar analysed those involved in the Holocaust and genocides, with talk of perpetrators, interveners, rescuers and bystanders. John described how silent bystanders' 'inaction' allowed mass murder to flourish and went on to add that everybody has a choice and responsibility to act. He developed ideas from this year's Holocaust Memorial Day, where the theme was 'IMAGINE.remember the past, reflect on the present, react to create a better future', emphasizing the importance of learning from history, through education in schools, universities, prisons, and the population at large "we can't change the past, but by challenging prejudice and racism, we can change the future!" John concluded with a quote by the Senator George Mitchell himself, "Conflicts are created by human beings; they can be ended by human beings".