SAN ANTONIO – The proposed Never Again Education Act legislation heading to the U.S. House of Representatives aims to make the Holocaust part of education in schools across the country.
Six million Jewish people were killed during the Holocaust, a traumatic part of history.
Currently, there are only eight states in the country where it's mandatory for schools to include the Holocaust in the curriculum.
"Unfortunately, there is still a number of deniers out there about the Holocaust," said Debbie Linck, education director for San Antonio's chapter of Hadassah, an international women's Zionist volunteer organization.
The thought of people saying the Holocaust never happened keeps Linck up at night.
"It worries me terribly," she said. "What you don't remember you're doomed to repeat, and that's what we have to do with history. We need to know about the Holocaust. There's still genocide happening around the world."
That's why Hadassah and bipartisan legislators came up with the Never Again Education Act, which is meant to pull in donations, not tax dollars, to fund Holocaust education in every state.
"Too many teachers do not have the resources to provide that type of teaching," Linck said.
The act could fund transportation to Holocaust museums or books about the Holocaust.
"It will also give the opportunity for survivors still with us to go into a classroom and meet with students," Linck said.
San Antonio is home to about eight Holocaust survivors, which Linck said is a big deal. It's been more than 70 years since the end of World War II, and there are very few survivors left, so it's important that we keep their stories alive, she said.
The Never Again Education Act was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on April 10 and has been referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.