Educating the young to stop anti-semitism
A Melbourne man who survived the Holocaust says educating young people is the key to stopping anti-Semitism.
Peter Gaspar, 86, was a young boy when he was sent to the Terezin concentration camp in his home country, the then-Czechoslovakia.
"All I remember is constant hunger, constant cold, constant afraid," Gaspar said.
He said he was made to watch a Nazi propaganda film, which showed images of happy and healthy children, to fool the world about how Jewish people were being treated in the camps.
"I was given extra rations to make me a little fatter... and put some colour in my cheeks," Gaspar said.
He is encouraging Australians to visit the new Melbourne Holocaust Museum in Elsterwick, previously known as the Jewish Holocaust Centre.
He hopes the museum will ensure their stories are never forgotten.
"You don't have to love everyone, you can't love everybody but you can respect them."
The museum includes rare artifacts, including the diary of a woman housed in the same concentration camp as Anne Frank.
It will open on July 29.