SAVANNAH, Ga. – January 27th marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day… a time to reflect on one of history’s darkest chapters. WSAV spoke with a Bluffton teacher who is educating local students about the Holocaust and why it’s crucial to keep its memory alive.
Heather Brougham-Cook has taught in Bluffton’s Cross Schools for over ten years, teaching an elective on the holocaust, which is a subject mandated by South Carolina’s educational standards.
For Heather, Holocaust education is more than just a historical lesson, it’s a way to ensure that students understand the broader context of history - how anti-semitism developed – and how those ideas can still influence societies today.
“It's important to remember that people had normal lives, with ordinary families, with aspirations and dreams, just like anybody else – that were just taken away very quickly," said Brougham-Cook.
Through the years heather has taught over 300 Bluffton students about Holocaust history. She is one of eight educators in the state of South Carolina that did a two-year study on the Holocaust, and shares she is the only one in her area of the state that has gone through that extensive research study.
"Visiting those spaces, visiting some of the camps where these atrocities occurred definitely leaves an indelible mark, an impression. And once you've had that experience, you almost feel compelled to research more, tell more, share more. I think that once you start to understand the enormity of the event, this there isn't anything else you can do," shared Brougham-Cook.
For more information on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, click here.