Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre’s director and historian Tali Nates feels honoured after being awarded the US Secretary of State’s International Religious Freedom by US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, in Washington DC on January 18.
Nates said she was engaged with this work of education and memory, trying to learn from past atrocities. “I was humbled that my work is noticed and recognised. I was also deeply moved by the other awardees who received the award with me. They are all beacons of light in a wounded world.”
The historian was the only South African to receive the 2023 award which is given in recognition of courage and commitment to promoting and defending religious freedom globally and to promoting human rights and mutual respect for all.
The US Secretary of State media release described the work that won Nates the prestigious award, “Born to a family of holocaust survivors, Tali Nates’ father and uncle were saved by Oskar Schindler. The rest of her family was murdered; as xenophobic rhetoric is on the rise in South Africa, she leverages her personal story and her position as the founder and director of the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre to inoculate South Africans, especially youth, from growing rhetoric that dehumanises vulnerable groups.”
The media release noted that Nates used case studies from the holocaust, the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, and apartheid in South Africa, to teach youth to stand up to antisemitism, racism, xenophobia, homophobia, and all forms of othering.
Nates lectures internationally on holocaust education, genocide prevention, reconciliation and human rights. She has lectured at a number of prestigious international universities and organisations, including the United Nations and is a member of the Salzburg Global Seminar as well as the Summer Education Academy of the International Nuremberg Principles Academy.
Related Article: Ward 7’s park adoption community meeting started off on a heated note
