Campaign to quell online hate says education is key to eliminating Holocaust denial

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A new campaign working to quell online hate by sharing stories of Holocaust survivors said they believe education is the key to eliminating Holocaust denial.

Ralph Rehbock, himself a survivor, does not believe it's possible to change people already spreading Holocaust denial; instead his focus is on educating those willing to listen.

"We looked out of the hotel window, and a synagogue across the street was burning was on fire," he recalled. "There were 1,400 synagogues burned that night by the Nazis."

Rehbock was just a toddler on Kristallnacht. Translating to "the night of broken glass," on the night of Nov. 9 into Nov. 10, 1938, Nazis burned Jewish businesses, synagogues, and arrested 30,000 Jewish men, who were jailed before most were sent on to concentration camps.

"Jews could no longer drink out of the drinking fountain, or go to toilets that were established," he said.

Passports, money and licenses were all taken from Jews in Germany. Rehbock said his family finally escaped after a Good Samaritan put them on a train that was different than the one they were told to get on.

"Improbable," he said. "That so-called other train would have taken my mother and me to one of those camps."

While Rehbock's immediate family headed to America for a new life, many others did not get out. Approximately 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.

Now survivors, teachers and others in the city are doing their part to educate people so Holocaust denial does not continue to spread.

"As a teacher, it terrifies me. I think that it's our responsibility to give students information and a full picture," said Jillian Knapczyk, teacher at Josephinium Academy.

Knapczyk said stopping online hate means teaching the next generation not only what happened, but why it happened.

"It's not that they're not being taught history, they're being taught separate histories," she said. "Suddenly you have versions of it. And that defeats the purpose of history."

Rhebock is working to build his family trees so his grandchildren can share their story even after he's gone.

"I'm trying to teach that, not just to people with Holocaust related stories, but the stories of life regardless, and hope. Hopefully some of them will take it to heart," he said.