YSU hosts American-Israeli historian to speak on Holocaust education

Youngstown State University hosted American-Israeli scholar, guide and historian Avi Ben-Hur to speak on the topic of Holocaust education on Tuesday.

"Never Again", which was sponsored by YSU's Center for Judaic and Holocaust Studies in conjunction with the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation was held in the McKay Auditorium in Beeghly Hall and was free to the public.

Ben-Hur works with Classrooms Without Borders in Pittsburg and has been studying and teaching Jewish heritage and the Holocaust for 28 years and deals with the discussion of when educators should teach the Holocaust to the youth.

"There's a question of 'is a child mature enough?' and 'can you scar a child by broaching this kind of subject too early?'," said Ben-Hur.

He ultimately believes however that it is important to teach students about the Holocaust, equating that the lessons learned then can be related to issues of today.

"If you look around the world we're living in as of this moment, for many people it seems to have a whiff similar to the 1930's as well as the inter-war period between the first and second world wars. Part of it has to do with how many advanced western societies are so polarizing to the extent that within these societies, your political opponents are now 'the other' and we know what happens when they begin to 'other' people," said Ben-Hur.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of the speaker's name. It was provided to us incorrectly in a media release.