U.S. Sen. Benjamin Cardin told Holocaust survivors that it is important to preserve their stories for generations born long after World War II.
Cardin (D-Md.), chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.) met last Friday with about 60 Holocaust survivors who had been interviewed by Centropa, a Vienna-based research organization that uses photographs and oral histories as Holocaust education tools.
Cardin and Brown were in Vienna for the annual Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
"Before World War II there were nearly 200,000 Jews in Austria, now there are about 8,000," Cardin said. "It is important for young people to know what you experienced."
Cardin noted that a similar oral history project -- the Veterans History Project, created by Congress in 2000 -- was under way in the United States to interview soldiers who had fought in World War II and other conflicts.
"It is important for young people to know what happened," he said.