“Echoes Across Time: Voices of Survival and Lessons for Our Future” Session 4

“Echoes Across Time: Voices of Survival and Lessons for Our Future”

In collaboration with the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre

As we stand on the cusp of history, the voices of Holocaust and genocide survivors grow more urgent, reminding us of the cost of silence, the value of empathy, and the power of resilience. “Echoes Across Time” invites audiences to explore the critical lessons these testimonies offer—on values, democracy, and the warning signs of oppression. Through monthly episodes, each centered around a survivor’s testimony about their life experiences, this series probes the question: Are we truly listening? Join us as we amplify stories from the Holocaust to Rwanda, Cambodia, and beyond, engaging with survivors, scholars, and advocates who work tirelessly to preserve these legacies and inspire a more compassionate future.

On Darkness and Light: The inspiring story of the survivors.

Through the amazing history of the Survivors of the Holocaust, Prof Hanna Yablonka seeks to examine the essence of darkness and draw the array of coordinates they set for us on how to extract the light from that darkness. Their inspirational revival will be told in the context of the birth of the Jewish state of Israel.

Tali Nates

Tali Nates is the founder and director of the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre (JHGC) and Chair of the South African Holocaust & Genocide Foundation (SAHGF). She is a historian who lectures internationally on Holocaust and genocide education, memory, reconciliation, and human rights. Born to a family of Holocaust survivors, her father and uncle were saved by Oskar Schindler. Tali has been involved in the creation and production of dozens of documentary films, published many articles and contributed chapters to different books among them God, Faith & Identity from the Ashes: Reflections of Children and Grandchildren of Holocaust Survivors (2015), Remembering The Holocaust in Educational Settings (2018), Conceptualizing Mass Violence, Representations, Recollections, and Reinterpretations (2021) and The Routledge Handbook of Memory Activism (2023).

In 2021 she was part of the 12-member Expert Group of the Malmö Forum, serving in an advisory capacity to the Secretariat of the Malmö Forum on their programme on Holocaust remembrance, education and actions to combat antisemitism. Tali serves on many Advisory and Academic Boards including that of the Contested Histories Initiative, the Interdisciplinary Academic Journal of Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center and the Academic Advisory Group of the School of Social and Health Sciences, Monash University (IIEMSA), South Africa.

In 2010, Tali was chosen as one of the top 100 newsworthy and noteworthy women in

South Africa by the Mail & Guardian newspaper and won many awards including the Kia Community Service Award (South Africa, 2015), the Gratias Agit Award (2020, Czech Republic), the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Award (2021) and the Goethe Medal (2022, Germany).

Prof. Hanna Yablonka is affiliated with the History Department at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Her research has focused on the cultural and social impact of the Shoah on Israeli society. She pioneered the research field dealing with the survivors of the Holocaust after 1945. In her research, she has emphasized the resilience and activism of the survivors, instrumental in the building of the State of Israel. Prof. Yablonka was also the founder and Chair of the Israel Studies department. Hanna Yablonka is the author of over 40 scientific articles, The editor of 4 books, and the author of six books including: Survivors of the Holocaust (1999) awarded the Ish Shalom prize Yad Ben Zvi, The History of the War Veterans Association (1999,) The State of Israel vs. Adolf Eichmann (2004) awarded the Buchman prize Yad Vashem, Off the beaten track: the Mizrahim and the Shoah (2008). Her last book: Yeladim Besseder Gamur (children by the book) became a best seller. It is the collective biography of the generation of the first native Israelis born in the state of Israel between 1948 – 1955. It was awarded as the best book in Israel for the years 2019 – 2020 by Yad Ben Zvi. 

Among her many affiliations she currently is a member of the Yad Vashem Council and was the academic advisor of Yad Vashem’s exhibition marking the 50th and 60th anniversary of the State of Israel. Hanna Yablonka is the chair of Governors of the Memorial Museum of the Hungarian Speaking Jewry in Safed and the chief Historian of the Ghetto Fighters Museum for the last 25 years.

Upcoming Events in this series:

• June 2025: Resisting Rising Antisemitism: Lessons from the USC Shoah Foundation
• September 2025: Srebrenica: Capturing Memories in the Face of Denial
• October 2025: From Tragedy to Healing: Rwanda’s Path to Restorative Justice
• November 2025: After the Genocide in Cambodia: Rebuilding from Devastation