Historian and director of the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre, Tali Nates hopes ‘certain light bulbs will come on’ when people visit the museum and see where some of history’s painful journeys began.
Although Nates’ parents are from Poland, she was born in Tel Aviv-Yafo in Israel and has lived in South Africa most of her life. She speaks Hebrew, German, Yiddish, French and English fluently.
Nates said one of the factors that encouraged her to establish a museum was that her father was a holocaust survivor.
“The centre’s partnership with the City of Johannesburg is important and I think we are a country that is still confronting a painful past. Sometimes it is difficult to speak about our past, which made me realise as a historian that many times it is easier for us to have another entry point through looking at other countries’ histories.”
Nates explained that the idea of a museum was birthed from the idea of creating a space where genocides from different parts of the world were showcased. “We then connected our idea of a museum to South Africa’s history of apartheid and colonisation and then speak about the choices that were made and what lessons we can learn currently. An example of a prevalent and historic issue is xenophobia.”
The multilingual historian said if it was evident that human beings could cause each other harm through genocide, people had the choice to learn from history’s mistakes and choose to help each other, which was essentially what the museum’s message was trying to convey.
“As we celebrate Women’s Month, it is also a time to look back at the important role women played in history. Women’s voices in history are important, they showed resilience, strength, and leadership which are lessons that I hope people will take note of.”
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