More conference day 2

Received so much info today my head may explode!!! The speaker today broke down the origins of antiSemitism into groups of years starting with Biblical times. He said what started as a "family squabble" between Jews and those who converted to Christianity was taken and twisted into something that became about race. The Jews are a religion not a race. He further talked about how b/c they are a group that is different in every way that ppl basically made things up about them and b/c they stay to themselves, marrying within a small group that they have eventually begun to portray certain common characteristics , but that the age old stereotype of all Jews with big noses and ears is just that, a stereotype. He then developed the ideas of Nazi discrimination against the Jews and they were the ones who promoted the idea of Jews being a race not just a religion and of course then the implementation of the Nuremberg Laws making the discrimination legal and in many cases acceptable. So much to consider and try to process. The highlight of my day was meeting Helen, another Auschwitz survivor. She is from Czechoslovakia. She was very sweet and kept thanking the teachers for helping to share h story. As she told her story, I cried and she stopped and held my hand and apologized for upsetting me. All I could do was thank her for being willing to share her story. I have a picture of us, I will post it in Facebook when I get back. In some ways this is such an overwhelming experience, but mostly it is humbling.
looking forward to tomorrow.......off to bed