Why it is important to learn about the Holocaust – Ruben, 9

Nine year old Ruben Josephs met Holocaust survivor and former olympic athlete Ben Helfgott, and has told the Jewish News about his experience:

“I met Ben Helfgott last year.

I was at a Holocaust Memorial Day Trust memorial event at Kings Cross Station with mum, and it was really interesting to talk to Ben about his life. 

I’m 9 years old, I live in Hertfordshire, and I like climbing, swimming, playing with Lego and running a book review website.

At school I’ve learnt a bit about World War One, but not so much on World War Two. What I know, I’ve learnt from reading “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas”.

I think it’s interesting to talk to older people about their experiences because that is how we can understand what’s happened in that past.

We often learn from reading books, and I love books, but we also need to talk to older people because books aren’t always true and when you talk to a person who was there, they can sometimes explain the subject better.

Besides, Ben has lots of stories – did you know he was also a weightlifting champ?

It’s really important for us to learn about genocide, and to try to stop it happening in future.

I think that genocide is the second worst thing that could happen to the human race – the worst would be the world ending – but genocide is the worst thing that has actually happened to us.”

Click here for more information about Holocaust memorial day Trust https://hmd.org.uk/

[polldaddy poll=8579966]