Jewish group launches Holocaust survivor speakers bureau to fight increasing antisemitism worldwide

BERLIN (AP) — More than 250 Holocaust survivors have joined an international initiative to share their stories of loss and survival with students around the world during a time of rising antisemitism following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the war in the Gaza Strip.

The Survivor Speakers Bureau was launched Thursday by the New York-based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, also referred to as the Claims Conference.

“A Holocaust survivor speakers bureau of this scale and reach is unprecedented,” said Gideon Taylor, the president of the Claims Conference. “At a moment of dramatically rising antisemitism, this program tells the history and educates for the future.”

Six million European Jews and people from other minorities were killed by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Holocaust.

The speakers bureau connects Holocaust survivors with students both virtually and in person.

In the United States and Germany, educational institutions can invite survivors to personally speak in classrooms and university lecture halls. Educators in other countries can request video conferences to ensure firsthand testimony is accessible.

The Claims Conference hopes to soon add more countries where young people can meet survivors in person.

“Holocaust education is crucial, especially given the current events happening around the world," said Holocaust survivor Eva Szepesi, who lives in Germany.

“My goal in sharing my own story of survival is and has always been to show the human impact, not just of the Holocaust, but of all the racist and hateful actions being taken in the world,” the 91-year-old survivor of the Auschwitz death camp added.

“If hearing my testimony helps one person understand that they, too, have a role in the events happening in their community, and they can stand up for what is right, then I feel it is worth it for me to go remember and share those terrible stories."

Antisemitism in Germany, many other European countries, the United States and elsewhere has been described as reaching levels not seen in many decades. The Claims Conference hopes that first-person accounts of the cruelties endured during the Holocaust will help counter disinformation, denial and prejudice.

“Firsthand accounts are essential to maintaining Holocaust memory and go much further to ensure people understand the impact of bigotry, antisemitism and unchecked hatred," said Greg Schneider, the vice president of the Claims Conference.

The group handles claims on behalf of Jews who suffered under the Nazis and negotiates compensation with Germany’s finance ministry every year. Since 1952, the German government has paid more than $90 billion (83 billion euros) to individuals for suffering and losses resulting from persecution by the Nazis.

The Claims Conference administers several compensation programs that provide direct payments to survivors globally, provides grants to more than 300 social service agencies worldwide and ensures survivors receive services such as home care, food, medicine, transportation and socialization.

It also has secured increasing funding for Holocaust education in recent years as the number of survivors becomes smaller. Funding has increased from 30 million euros for 2024 to 41 million euros for 2027.

FILE - A police officer guards at the entrance of the building complex of the Kahal Adass Jisroel community, which houses a synagogue, a kindergarten and a community center, in the center of Berlin, Germany, on Nov. 8, 2023. The complex in the city's Mitte neighbourhood was attacked with two incendiary devices on Oct. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

FILE - German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier leads Holocaust survivor Eva Szepesi to the plenary of the German Bundestag in Berlin, Germany, on Jan. 31, 2024. More than 250 Holocaust survivors have joined an international initiative to share their stories of loss and survival with students around the world during a time of rising antisemitism following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the war in the Gaza Strip.(AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

FILE - A woman carries a placard reading " no to racism" during a march against antisemitism in Paris, France, on Nov. 12, 2023. More than 250 Holocaust survivors have joined an international initiative to share their stories of loss and survival with students around the world during a time of rising antisemitism following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the war in the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File)

FILE - A German police officer stands guard in front of the synagogue in Frankfurt, Germany, on Nov. 8, 2023. Antisemitism is spiking across Europe after Hamas' Oct. 7 massacre and Israel's bombardment of Gaza, worrying Jews from London to Geneva and Berlin. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, File)

FILE - People attend the "NO FEAR: Rally in Solidarity with the Jewish People" event in Washington, on July 11, 2021, co-sponsored by the Alliance for Israel, Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee, B'nai B'rith International and other organizations. More than 250 Holocaust survivors have joined an international initiative to share their stories of loss and survival with students around the world during a time of rising antisemitism following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the war in the Gaza Strip. The Survivor Speakers Bureau was launched Thursday by the New York-based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, also referred to as the Claims Conference. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

FILE - People listen to speeches during a demonstration against antisemitism and to show solidarity with Israel in Berlin, Germany, on Oct. 22, 2023. More than 250 Holocaust survivors have joined an international initiative to share their stories of loss and survival with students around the world during a time of rising antisemitism following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the war in the Gaza Strip. The Survivor Speakers Bureau was launched Thursday by the New York-based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, also referred to as the Claims Conference. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

FILE - A white rose is placed at the 'Gleis 17', Track 17, the memorial site for the train transportation from Berlin to the camp, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day in Berlin, Germany, on Jan. 27, 2024. The International Holocaust Remembrance Day marks the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz - Birkenau on Jan. 27, 1945. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

FILE - Holocaust survivor Eva Szepesi speaks to the plenary of the German Bundestag in Berlin, Germany, on Jan. 31, 2024. More than 250 Holocaust survivors have joined an international initiative to share their stories of loss and survival with students around the world during a time of rising antisemitism following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the war in the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

FILE - Tourists visit the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, Germany, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, on Jan. 27, 2024. More than 250 Holocaust survivors have joined an international initiative to share their stories of loss and survival with students around the world during a time of rising antisemitism following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the war in the Gaza Strip. The Survivor Speakers Bureau was launched Thursday by the New York-based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, also referred to as the Claims Conference. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Israel-Hamas war demonstrations at the University of Mississippi turned ugly this week when one counter-protester appeared to make monkey noises and gestures at a Black student in a raucous gathering that was endorsed by a far-right congressman from Georgia.

“Ole Miss taking care of business,” Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Collins wrote Friday on the social platform X with a with a link to the video showing the racist jeers.

The Associated Press left voicemail messages for Collins on Friday at his offices in Georgia and Washington and sent an email to his spokesperson, asking for an explanation of what Collins meant. There was no immediate response.

The taunting brought sharp criticism on and off campus.

“Students were calling for an end to genocide. They were met with racism,” James M. Thomas, a sociology professor at the University of Mississippi, wrote Friday on X.

The Rev. Cornell William Brooks, a former president and CEO of the NAACP and professor at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, wrote on X that a white man mocking a Black woman as a monkey “isn’t about ‘Stand With Israel’ or ‘Free Palestine.’ This is protest as performative racism.”

Collins was first elected to Congress in 2022 and made several social media posts criticizing campus protests.

Nobody was arrested during the demonstration Thursday at the University of Mississippi, where hecklers vastly outnumbered war protesters. According to a count by AP, more than 2,400 arrests have occurred on 46 U.S. university or college campuses since April 17 during demonstrations against the war.

The student newspaper, The Daily Mississippian, reported about 30 protesters on the Oxford campus billed themselves as UMiss for Palestine. Videos and photos from the event showed the protesters were in a grassy area near the main library, blocked off by barriers erected by campus security.

They chanted “Free, free Palestine," and carried Palestinian flags and signs with slogans including, “Stop the Genocide" and “U.S. bombs take Palestine lives.”

Student journalist Stacey J. Spiehler shot video that showed campus police officers and the dean of students standing between anti-war protesters and hecklers. After the Black woman protesting the war had what appeared to be a heated exchange of words with several white hecklers, one of the men made the monkey gestures and noises at her.

About 76% of the university's students were white and about 11% were Black in 2022-23, the most recent data available on the school's website.

University of Mississippi Chancellor Glenn Boyce said the school is committed to people expressing their views. He said some statements made on campus Thursday were “offensive and unacceptable."

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves reposted a video on X that showed counter-protesters on the campus singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

“Warms my heart,” Reeves wrote. “I love Mississippi!”

In this photo taken from video provided by Stacey J. Spiehler, a pro-Palestinian protester is confronted by hecklers at the University of Mississippi, Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Oxford, Miss. The hecklers vastly outnumbered pro-Palestine demonstrators and video shot by a student journalist showed one white heckler making monkey gestures and noises at a Black woman who was supporting pro-Palestine protesters. (Stacey J. Spiehler via AP)

University of Mississippi student and counter-protester Connor Moore, center, taunts graduate student Jaylin R. Smith with a piece of bread during a protest in support of Palestinians on Thursday, May 2, 2024, outside the J.D. Williams Library on the school campus in Oxford, Miss. (HG Biggs/The Clarion-Ledger via AP)

In this photo taken from video provided by Stacey J. Spiehler, hecklers shout at a pro-Palestinian protester at the University of Mississippi, Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Oxford, Miss. The hecklers vastly outnumbered pro-Palestine demonstrators and video shot by a student journalist showed one white heckler making monkey gestures and noises at a Black woman who was supporting pro-Palestinian protesters. (Stacey J. Spiehler via AP)