Some around the world paused Tuesday for a moment of silence. Videos began popping up onto Facebook and Twitter news feeds, depicting cars stopping on major highways, their drivers opening their doors and standing in the fresh air in respect to International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Exactly 70 years have passed since the events in Europe. Exactly 70 years have passed since millions of people were murdered in the Nazi concentration camps. Exactly 70 years the survivors have lived among us.

The stories of those that survived and those that liberated are stories worth telling and worth remembering. Soon, those survivors will pass into memory along with those who have passed before them. For most students at Kent State, we are the last generation who will have a chance to hear directly from human sources the stories that only a Holocaust survivor can tell. How many have taken that opportunity?

As storytellers and news gatherers, we know the importance that facts have in stories. Sources are the key to understanding the entire tale. We believe that it is important for all students to remember the generations of people that are quickly disappearing from the world. Soon, those stories will be lost to memory. Take the time, if given the chance, to talk with a Holocaust survivor. If you’ve never studied those events, those people, those stories, do so. 

If the world can pause for only a moment to remember the stories that were never told, then we should also pause to listen to the stories that still have a chance to be heard.

The above editorial is the consensus opinion of The Kent Stater editorial board, whose names are listed above.