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The son of Holocaust survivors spoke April 12 to students, faculty and others in "Raise Your VOICE: Lessons from the Holocaust."
Michael Korenblit said political apathy led to the rise of Hitler.
"Hitler was elected wth only 37 percent of the vote," he said. "If more people had gotten involved and looked at what the Nazi Party and other parties stood for, Hitler might never have come to power."
The event was sponsored by the Oklahoma Campus Compact's VOICE (Vocal Oklahomans in Civic Engagement) and the Jewish Federation of Greater Oklahoma City.
"The lessons we hope are to never forget, and never again," said Holocaust Resource Director Cathy Pettijohn.
Korenblit was the event's feature speaker. He is the co-founder of the Respect Diversity Foundation.
"I, Witness...", a documentary about Oklahoma Holocaust survivors, was shown before Korenblit spoke.
The Jews were given "not enough to live, not enough to die," said Holocaust survivor Leah Henson.
The Jews worked all day on only a slice of bread and a cup of coffee. The "lucky" Jewish slaves were fed a cup of water with turnips at the end of their work shift.
The Holocaust survivors recounted the Auschwitz concentration camp by recalling the smell. At first no one knew what could possibly smell so awful, then they realized the smell was burnt flesh.
Henson was eventually sent to Auschwitz.
"There, everyday we lived with the fear that today would be the day they kill us," she said. "The Jews had nothing but the friendship between them."
When Korenblit was six, he said he noticed the letters KL and then A-237 tattooed on his mother's wrist. This began his inquiries into his parents' past. They tried to explain their past to him in the least horrifying way, he said.
"Remember -- the literal translation of the Holocaust is death by fire," Korenblit said.
Korenblit spoke about his parents' miraculous survival through horrifying circumstances.
Korenblit's father Meyer and mother Manya met when they were teen-agers, he said.
Meyer secretly followed several Nazis to see what they were going to do with the 20 Jews they had as prisoners, and Manya tagged along, Korenblit said.
The Nazi's stopped when they reached a huge hole in the ground. They proceeded to shoot all 20 Jews and then throw their bodies into the ground. They filled up the hole and marched away. Manya and Meyer watched as the ground moved up and down because some of the Jews were still breathing.
"This image never left them," Korenblit said.
The audience learned that his mother Manya was punished for finding a piece of bread. She was forced to sit on her bare knees in the snow for a full night. If she moved, she would be shot. She got extremely ill and hid in the infirmary toilets until she was well enough to go back to work.
If the Nazis noticed anyone in the infirmary for more than a day they were killed immediately.
The stories continued until Korenblit concluded with his account of the 1960's.
Korenblit walked to a water fountain and his father told him to read the sign. He read aloud, "Whites only." Then his father asked him to read the sign above another water fountain. He replied, "Coloreds only."
His father said, "I want you to remember what you saw here today, because that's why you don't have any grandparents."
Korenblit told his parents' Holocaust survival story because history does repeat itself, he said.
Americans have watched news anchors talk about the genocide of Cambodians, Rwandans, Muslim Bosnians and the people of Kosovo.
"A thread of hatred runs through all these incidents, and we sit back and we watch," Korenblit said.
Despite everything, his parents are optimistic about American youth.
Jennifer Geren is the assistant director for Campus Compact of Oklahoma.
For their next event Geren said, "We are brainstorming with students about ways to inform people of the importance of voting."
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