University of Nebraska-Lincoln brings stories of Holocaust survivors and liberators to light

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) -For the last year, researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln have been bringing stories of Holocaust survivors and liberators to light. These stories were all told by Nebraskans.

10/11 NOW had the chance to meet with a Nebraska doctor who grew up hearing stories of the holocaust from his father, who witnessed the horrors with his own eyes. He played a role in liberating the Dachau Concentration Camp.

Lived experiences like his are hard to come by these days as the push to educate future generations ramps up.

“He was a hero to me,” said Dr. Tom Williams, son of a concentration camp liberator.

Standing next to his father’s photos and letters, Tom said it’s hard not to get emotional. Portraits of humanity at its worst, some too graphic for television.

To Clarence Williams, who served as an army medic during the war, those photos weren’t meant for a private book or desk drawer. They were signposts, warnings for all to see.

“He also was active locally in the Lincoln area, speaking as requested often to high schools,” Tom said.

Clarence died in 1995, leaving a hole in Holocaust education.

“The gold standard for holocaust education, where you used to be able to bring the liberators to a classroom or bring the survivors to a classroom,” said Ari Kohen, UNL professor, and director of Harris Center for Judaic Studies. “Unfortunately, we’re almost at the very end of that. There are very few people available at this time.”

But Clarence’s memory survives in those photos and letters featured in a permanent exhibit in Nebraska’s Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum and now on the Nebraska Stories of Humanity Website.

The website features hundreds of archival documents from survivors and liberators living in Nebraska.

“It feels like this is history that happened a long time ago and very very far away from here, but what we’re doing with this website is we’re shrinking everything down and showing how local everything can be,” Kohen said.

Tom said with anti-Semitism on the rise, getting Holocaust education right is crucial, and he’s glad his father’s work is part of that.

“Feel a burden not only to my father but also to really society and all those citizens who will listen, to let them know what happened,” Tom said.

Kohen said there are plans to host some training on Holocaust education for teachers in Nebraska next spring.

In the legislature, a state senator has championed legislation to improve Holocaust education in the state.

“How important it was to make sure that we are including this in statute so that the education surrounding the holocaust does not disappear as survivors,” said State Senator Jen Day. “We only have a few left in the state of Nebraska.”

Day said in the next session, she may prioritize LB 679 which stayed in committee this year. She said she’s responding to two historical trends, the dying off of most holocaust survivors and liberators and the rising tide of anti-Semitism in the United States.

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