According to Liora Sion, every state, community and culture has a narrative, a story that tells “where we came from, where are we going, who are we.” In Israel’s narrative, the Holocaust is crucial.

Sion, a post-doctoral fellow sponsored by the Jewish Federation to teach and conduct research at Northwestern for two years, spoke to about 25 people Thursday night in Swift Hall. Her speech focused on the Holocaust’s role in the formation of a Jewish state.

Two Hillel groups, Students Helping to Organize Awareness of the Holocaust (SHOAH) and Students for Israel (SFI) organized the lecture in hopes of “dispelling the myths and theories that exist regarding the role of the Holocaust in the formation of Israel,” said Medill junior Shari Weiss, the vice president of SHOAH.

Although Sion addressed arguments concerning whether Israel would have formed without the Holocaust, she focused on how attitudes toward the Holocaust have shifted in Israel. Before the 1960s, Sion said, Jews viewed the Holocaust with shame.

“The Holocaust unfortunately was perceived in Israel as six million people who didn’t fight,” said Sion, who quoted a Hebrew phrase meaning, “They went as sheep to the slaughterhouse.” Holocaust victims were even referred to as “human dust” or “soap.”

In 1965, information released in the Auschwitz trials helped change attitudes and open discussion.

“We know now that it’s not true, that people did fight in many ways,” said Sion. “If a mother takes her baby and tries to calm him before they’re both shot or sent to the gas chamber, that is also a form of bravery. What else could she do?”

This shift in attitude, Sion explained, can be seen in the way the Holocaust is remembered in Israel. Although in 2006 the United Nations General Assembly declared Jan. 27, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, an international day of Holocaust commemoration, Israel still observes Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, in April, near the time of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.

“Auschwitz doesn’t fit in the picture, if you want to emphasize bravery in the Holocaust,” explained Sion. “Auschwitz is about gas chambers.”

Attitudes, however, continue to change. “For our generation, it doesn’t matter anymore,” she said. “We don’t need [the survivors] to be brave. Just surviving is a huge heroism.”

Several audience members said they appreciated Sion’s explanations and views. The President of SFI, Weinberg sophomore Ian Sobel, stressed the importance of speakers like Sion.

“It’s very important to have lectures like this, especially when you have people like the president of Iran, Ahmadinejad, who denies the Holocaust and the right of the state of Israel to exist,” Sobel said. “At the same time, [he's] creating a nuclear arsenal to potentially create a second Holocaust and wipe Israel off the map.”