Branson is celebrating Holocaust Education and Awareness Week.
The Antisemitism Education Center of the Ozarks is the lead sponsor for Branson’s observance of the specially designated week. Last July, Missouri became the 20th state to sign the the Never Again Education Act. It established the Holocaust Education and Awareness Commission. And the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education was tasked with creating a curriculum framework of instruction for studying the holocaust. The goal is to bring Holocaust education to secondary schools by 2025.
The second week of April has been designated as Holocaust Education and Awareness Week in Missouri.
Shirah Miriam Aumann, founder of the Antisemitism Education Center of the Ozarks, said Holocaust Education and Awareness Week is all about educating people.
"We must educate, and we must do it quickly," she said. "And we are also losing our living testimonies. Our holocaust survivors are starting to age out and are getting fewer in numbers, yet, Holocaust deniers say it never happened, that it was a hoax — they are becoming more in number. So, if we don’t educate with the truth, then lies and perversions of history will start to take place."
She said events planned in Branson for this week will be free to attend with the exception of the Yom HaShoah, Day of Holocaust Remembrance, at 10 am Tuesday, April 18. Admission will be $10 at the gate.