in Auschwitz-Birkenau until the liquidation of the camp and my last job in Canada, that was the name given by the prisoners, in fact, by the Sonderkommando, because Canada is a rich country, and all the things that prisoners from all countries brought with them were gathered in Canada, and I saw it all there; however, Canada had one advantage - that there was something to eat. And what could we eat there? What people brought with them because they told people in different countries that they were going to work and therefore, to take all their provisions. And these provisions were brought to Canada, and we the sick, skinny people ate these things. Could one eat such things? Then you could eat anything. One more thing that helped to survive in this hell was friendship because you could find a group of people who supported one another, so the Shoah, the Holocaust is not just terrible things, and where are the righteous of the world who helped and hid?
There are other topics that children can take in. I'm fighting to introduce the subject earlier. Why earlier? Because in countries where children are 13.14 years old, it is generally too late. Because then they have to deal with their physiological change and do not think about other things other than themselves and what place they occupy in the group of their peers. Is it necessary to teach this subject? Is it possible? I have an answer to these two questions. Yes, it is necessary and possible. And why is it necessary? Because we live in a world of the media - the phone, the iPhone, as it is called in every country - children play with it, even babies. These kids grow up using this iPhone and know more than we would want them to know. And therefore, this topic must be introduced as early as possible.
In Israel, we have to because there are sirens, and it is the beginning of the day of remembrance. The children ask why the sirens buzz. But in countries where there are no sirens, they have the same problem. The problem is that children hear it all around. Surely, there are teachers here. I can tell teachers that first of all, they need to investigate what children know, what is the source of their message, and what they would like to know. I've been to several places. I've been to Argentina, Canada, America, I've been to America many times, and three years in England where I wrote because I wanted to learn - so the first thing I did was learn. I learned Hebrew very quickly and was in a teachers' seminar and worked as a kindergarten teacher, and I have a number and the children asked me why and who wrote it. For 40 years I've been looking for the answer to this question, who wrote it on me. By the way, the museum has 4 Polish books that are translated from Hebrew, which are available for schools.
What should I say? That I'd like to cry, because only with tears can I flush out the past. When I see so many people, you are our consolation that all of you will try to make the memory of this place and other places where innocent people from all nations were killed; that you will be responsible for ensuring that such misfortune never occurs again in the history of the world.