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Iraqis Prepare For Election; Students Remember Lessons of Holocaust

Aired January 27, 2005 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Anxiety is high. Expectations, well, let's just say they vary in Iraq today, 2 1/2 days before an exercise that is meant to be a turning point in Iraqi history. The most hopeful among the prospective voters in Sunday's elections see a chance for government by consent of the governed. But those who don't consent to the whole idea are growing ever more desperate to stop it.
CNN's Jeff Koinange reporting now from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A last-minute campaign blitz, as candidates in the predominantly Shiite town of Najaf canvass the city. These are supporters of the Supreme Council For the Islamic Revolution, part of the Shiite-dominated United Iraqi Reliance, which expects to do well in this weekend's election.

"We are optimistic because the Iraqi people, especially in Najaf, are united in one stand. We think that elections are the only way to end the crisis of the Iraqi people," says candidate Adnan Jaleel." The alliance has the blessings of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the Shiite spiritual leader who lives in Najaf. Al-Sistani has urged his supporters to turn up in numbers on Election Day and to refrain from taking revenge against the mostly Sunni insurgents.

Those insurgent attacks continue, with more explosions at schools that are due to be polling stations on Sunday. And in Kurdish northern Iraq, a suicide bomber commandeered a tractor and detonated in the gates of the Kurdish Democratic Party, killing five. And in Tarmiya in the Sunni Triangle, a roadside bomb exploded just after the U.S. convoy passed, killing two Iraqis.

Despite the violence, the Baghdad neighborhood of Adamiyah is getting into election mood, even as the ever-present U.S. military swings through in its armored vehicles. And the voter's shopping list is familiar.

"We only want security," says Mohammad Jaber. "If whoever wins the election will bring security, we will be very happy."

Others are more cynical. "This election is controlled by the Americans and the evidence for this is there," says Ahmad Hasan (ph).

Among one of Iraq's many minorities, its small Christian community, there is a simple wish.

"Whoever will rule Iraq should do so, but he needs to be a good and honest person who loves Iraq, who is fair," says Iman Victor.

(on camera): Fairness and love are two things Iraqis haven't witnessed in a long time. Some at least are hoping against hope that Sunday's election will at least be the beginning of the end of the chaos.

Jeff Koinange, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, these are very dangerous times in Iraq, with insurgents determined to use violence to undermine Sunday's election.

WABC reporter Jim Dolan and photojournalist Joe Tasaro (ph) are embedded with the U.S. Marines near Haditha in western Iraq. Their convoy came under fire yesterday. Here's a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger. Be advised. Commencing actions on the objective at this time.

JIM DOLAN, WABC REPORTER (voice-over): Night ops, Haklaniya (ph), a small town outside Haditha in remote western Iraq. The Marines search, but the objective building is empty, and they head out.

It starts as a few shots, but, in seconds, it is an all-out barrage, rocket-propelled grenades, small-arms fire, machine guns. Tracers light up the night sky from, it seems, every direction. A transformer gets hit, and for a moment there is quiet.

(on camera): But it was a costly mission. In the gunfire that followed, three Marines were hit, none of them apparently seriously. Right now, they're rushing to get them back to the base so they can get medical attention as soon as possible.

(voice-over): But it is so far from over. The RPGs and gunfire start up again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They must have come out of some hiding positions, fallen on equipment that they had already prepositioned, and then they waited for the word for the initial boom. When that first RPG shot went off, that's what would signal the ambush.

DOLAN: That one hits the vehicle armor between photographer Joe Tasaro (ph) and me. Finally, the echoes fade under a full winter's moon, and there is quiet. But the casualties are high. The injured are medevaced out, but four Marines died out there in the firefight, young men, young American men, a world away from home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These Marines served together. And they fought their way out together. The casualties that we took last night, our wounded and our KIAs, it's something that we carry with us forever. (END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Once again, that report from WABC's Jim Dolan and photojournalist Joe Tasaro, who are embedded with U.S. Marines in Iraq.

Well, Iraqi elections are now only three days away. Tonight, CNN will have special coverage starting at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Join Anderson Cooper and Christiane Amanpour in Baghdad, Paula Zahn in New York, for our special reports "Iraq Votes." At 10:00 p.m., CNN journalists in Iraq share their stories under fire, "Stories From the New Iraq," tonight, only on CNN.

O'BRIEN: The California man accused of causing yesterday's deadly train collision won't be arraigned today after all. The proceeding has been put on hold. Authorities say Juan Manuel Alvarez parked his Jeep Cherokee on railroad tracks in a suicide attempt. He allegedly changed his mind and jumped out as the computer commuter train approached to save his own life, but he set off a deadly reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEE BACA, LOS ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF: He was depressed. He apparently had slashed his wrists, but not severely enough to cause himself fatal harm. And he was looking to commit suicide by getting on the tracks and having the train hit his car. Unfortunately, and tragically, it was his car that got caught up underneath the wheels of the train and caused the derailment that led to these deaths.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Eleven were killed in the crash. Alvarez is charged with murder. If he is convicted, he could face the death penalty.

PHILLIPS: Sixty years after the liberation of Auschwitz, a new generation of students is trying to grasp the lessons of the Holocaust.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I look around the room and I think about how devastating it would be if two-thirds of us were gone all at once.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Still ahead, how one high school teacher is trying to make sure those lessons are not forgotten.

And tomorrow on LIVE FROM, Congressman Harold Ford of Tennessee on his upcoming trip to Iraq, his plans and his concerns about security. That's tomorrow on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER UPDATE) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: You got a Ford pickup at home there?

PHILLIPS: You remember I used to and that's why I don't own it anymore.

O'BRIEN: And that R, when you put the thing in R, that stands for recall, not reverse, right?

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: I had issue with the tires, is what I had issues with.

O'BRIEN: Oh, you did?

PHILLIPS: Yes. Don't you remember? The exploder, isn't that what they called it?

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: I'm sorry. Oops. Sorry, Susan.

O'BRIEN: You are going to be talking to somebody from the sixth floor very shortly, I think.

O'BRIEN: Exactly.

(FINANCIAL UPDATE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right, this just in to CNN. We've been talking about so much about the election in Iraq. We're now being told the voting has begun in Sydney, Australia. We understand that 11,806 Iraqis have registered in Sydney. Now that voting process has begun.

As you know, a total of 280,000 Iraqi exiles in 14 countries now have registered to cast ballots in this first election since the fall of Saddam Hussein back in April of 2003. So we're going to start to follow the results, of course, as the election process has now begun.

O'BRIEN: A stark remembrance today for the murders of more than one million Jews. World leaders gathered on a frigid afternoon in Poland to remember the liberation of Auschwitz. Russian's Vladimir Putin one of 30 leaders participating today on the 60th anniversary of the Soviet seizure of the Nazi death camp.

The United States represented at the ceremony by Vice President Dick Cheney.

O'BRIEN: Now, joining me here on the set with more on the horrors of Auschwitz, watching it through her perch online is Veronica De La Cruz.

A lot of people talking about it online, aren't they?

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN QUICKCAST: A lot of people, Miles.

And I actually had a chance to speak with Steve Goldberg, who is based in CNN.com's London bureau. He took a tour of Auschwitz ahead of today's 60th anniversary. And he shares with us this very personal account.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVE GOLDBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One of the things that really struck me about my visit was the Gate of Death at Birkenau is very plain. But two miles away is where this infamous sign, "Arbeit Macht Frei, "Work Makes You Free," is located. But the sign is so cynical because the prisoners were forced on marches out of the camp to their labors, and at the end of the day, those that survived had to come back home carrying the corpses of the dead.

I wanted to see inside the barracks where the prisoners lived. Once I got inside it was dark and dank. I thought I'd rats scurrying inside. And yet this is where people had to sleep and live.

And then I saw the pictures, the drawings. These were beautiful drawings lovingly done by the women of the camp who, it felt to me, were trying to remind themselves or maybe their children of what life was like before the war.

At Birkenau there's a feeling of rawness. You can still sense the death and destruction.

Auschwitz One, the smaller camp, has been turned into essentially a museum piece. I walked through the exhibits and they are all striking. Piles of shoes from the prisoners or their suitcases, or even eye glasses stacked up in a pile.

But there was one room that really had the power to shock. There was this large glass case, and behind the glass it was filled with human hair, these beautiful braids that -- women's hair that had been cut from victims after they had been killed. And I just stood there and wanted to cry.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DE LA CRUZ: And that was Steve Goldberg with just one of the many powerful stories of remembrance on CNN.com.

O'BRIEN: All right, thank you very much, Veronica De La Cruz -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: It was a dilapidated former army barracks near southwest Poland. It's now known as the camp where the greatest mass murder in history took place. More than one million men, women and children were stripped of their identity and forced to die at the infamous Auschwitz death camp.

For survivors, it's a haunting memory. For kids today, it's an incomprehensible part of history. However, within that divide of generations, there is a unique individual making a connection. She's a very passionate high school teacher here in Atlanta, Georgia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There have been things that hit you, like keep repeating itself.

KYRA PHILLIPS, HOST, LIVE FROM : When it comes to the Holocaust students at Pope High School just outside Atlanta have lots to say.

MATT, GRADE 12: I look around the room, and I think about how devastating it would be if two thirds of us were gone. All at once. I can't understand how that could happen.

PHILLIPS: One student saw how it happened. She visited Auschwitz.

ERIN, GRADE 11: It was like a barn house. And it still -- it smelled awful. That you could smell the -- just people still there. I mean 60 years later.

PHILLIPS: After 60 years, the Holocaust is not forgotten. Not here.

BETH MULLING, HISTORY TEACHER, POPE HIGH SCHOOL: One of the most important things that we talk about in world history is tolerance.

PHILLIPS: These high schoolers are passionate about the past because of this woman, Beth Mulling, a history teacher with a personal connection. Her father fought in World War II. He brought back the photos, a Nazi flag, and a message for his daughter. She was to take his evidence of an evil past and teach.

MULLING: You can see anguish and agony. There eyes are still open. You can see physical features on their faces. And you see capos, Jewish guards, dragging their victims to the ovens. And those photographs, when the kids see them for the first time, are quite shocking.

PHILLIPS (on camera): Do the kids start crying?

MULLING: Yes, absolutely. It's terribly emotional.

PHILLIPS (voice-over): The lessons have given her students new perspective.

HILLARY, GRADE 10: If someone is strong enough to overcome something of that magnitude, if we can take that hope for life and that reason to live and we can bring that all together, we can definitely change the way that the future is headed.

PHILLIPS: And a new sense of responsibility.

JONATHAN, GRADE 12: I think most powerful thing is stuff like we're doing right now, getting together in groups, talking about it. Why did it happen? How can this never happen again? What can we do to make sure that this doesn't happen again? PHILLIPS (on camera): Why do you think it's so important to remember that time in history now, decades later? Sixty years later?

MICHELLE, GRADE 11: We can't just let a day like this pass without appreciating the significance of it. It can't be, you know, something that you turn on the news and you see it on the bottom of the screen and then you change the channel. People have to really come to terms with what happened so that we can make sure that it doesn't happen again.

PHILLIPS: You know, you take on a tremendous responsibility, teaching the Holocaust.

MULLING: Absolutely. And one that I relish. I get emotional about it. I get upset about it. I cry. I cry in front of my kids. It's embarrassing. My nose turns red. My makeup runs.

And I do it gleefully twice a year, because it's the most important thing I'll ever tell my kids. And I tell them from the very get-go, I'll never tell you anything that matters any more than this. And you don't have to remember any dates, and you're not having a test on it. This is about basic humanity. And that's why it matters so very much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: She gives that lecture twice a year. Everybody talks. Nobody wants to miss it. They pack the rooms.

O'BRIEN: Yes. You know, there is a little lesson in humanity as well in just looking at those kids. And, clearly, I presume they were kind of honor students, kind of handpicked, but, nevertheless, really well-spoken, had some really interesting things to say and I think understood the history. And that's good to see.

PHILLIPS: Yes, the teenagers, it was interesting. There was a guidance counselor in there that, if they got emotional and were disturbed by what we were talking about, the guidance counselor was there to sort of deal with it.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

PHILLIPS: No one -- everyone said, no, we're fine. We understand this. And, if anything, we got to talk about it more, so we're more tolerant as a younger generation. It gives you hope definitely about the future of our kids.

O'BRIEN: It's nice to see kids of that age who are so thoughtful. And, as you say, it gives you a lot of hope for what lies ahead for all of us.

PHILLIPS: That's it. They knew more about World War II than all of us, the entire crew.

(LAUGHTER)

O'BRIEN: Yes. That's probably so.

All right, good job, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: That wraps up LIVE FROM.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired January 27, 2005 - 15:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Anxiety is high. Expectations, well, let's just say they vary in Iraq today, 2 1/2 days before an exercise that is meant to be a turning point in Iraqi history. The most hopeful among the prospective voters in Sunday's elections see a chance for government by consent of the governed. But those who don't consent to the whole idea are growing ever more desperate to stop it.
CNN's Jeff Koinange reporting now from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A last-minute campaign blitz, as candidates in the predominantly Shiite town of Najaf canvass the city. These are supporters of the Supreme Council For the Islamic Revolution, part of the Shiite-dominated United Iraqi Reliance, which expects to do well in this weekend's election.

"We are optimistic because the Iraqi people, especially in Najaf, are united in one stand. We think that elections are the only way to end the crisis of the Iraqi people," says candidate Adnan Jaleel." The alliance has the blessings of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the Shiite spiritual leader who lives in Najaf. Al-Sistani has urged his supporters to turn up in numbers on Election Day and to refrain from taking revenge against the mostly Sunni insurgents.

Those insurgent attacks continue, with more explosions at schools that are due to be polling stations on Sunday. And in Kurdish northern Iraq, a suicide bomber commandeered a tractor and detonated in the gates of the Kurdish Democratic Party, killing five. And in Tarmiya in the Sunni Triangle, a roadside bomb exploded just after the U.S. convoy passed, killing two Iraqis.

Despite the violence, the Baghdad neighborhood of Adamiyah is getting into election mood, even as the ever-present U.S. military swings through in its armored vehicles. And the voter's shopping list is familiar.

"We only want security," says Mohammad Jaber. "If whoever wins the election will bring security, we will be very happy."

Others are more cynical. "This election is controlled by the Americans and the evidence for this is there," says Ahmad Hasan (ph).

Among one of Iraq's many minorities, its small Christian community, there is a simple wish.

"Whoever will rule Iraq should do so, but he needs to be a good and honest person who loves Iraq, who is fair," says Iman Victor.

(on camera): Fairness and love are two things Iraqis haven't witnessed in a long time. Some at least are hoping against hope that Sunday's election will at least be the beginning of the end of the chaos.

Jeff Koinange, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, these are very dangerous times in Iraq, with insurgents determined to use violence to undermine Sunday's election.

WABC reporter Jim Dolan and photojournalist Joe Tasaro (ph) are embedded with the U.S. Marines near Haditha in western Iraq. Their convoy came under fire yesterday. Here's a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger. Be advised. Commencing actions on the objective at this time.

JIM DOLAN, WABC REPORTER (voice-over): Night ops, Haklaniya (ph), a small town outside Haditha in remote western Iraq. The Marines search, but the objective building is empty, and they head out.

It starts as a few shots, but, in seconds, it is an all-out barrage, rocket-propelled grenades, small-arms fire, machine guns. Tracers light up the night sky from, it seems, every direction. A transformer gets hit, and for a moment there is quiet.

(on camera): But it was a costly mission. In the gunfire that followed, three Marines were hit, none of them apparently seriously. Right now, they're rushing to get them back to the base so they can get medical attention as soon as possible.

(voice-over): But it is so far from over. The RPGs and gunfire start up again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They must have come out of some hiding positions, fallen on equipment that they had already prepositioned, and then they waited for the word for the initial boom. When that first RPG shot went off, that's what would signal the ambush.

DOLAN: That one hits the vehicle armor between photographer Joe Tasaro (ph) and me. Finally, the echoes fade under a full winter's moon, and there is quiet. But the casualties are high. The injured are medevaced out, but four Marines died out there in the firefight, young men, young American men, a world away from home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These Marines served together. And they fought their way out together. The casualties that we took last night, our wounded and our KIAs, it's something that we carry with us forever. (END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Once again, that report from WABC's Jim Dolan and photojournalist Joe Tasaro, who are embedded with U.S. Marines in Iraq.

Well, Iraqi elections are now only three days away. Tonight, CNN will have special coverage starting at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Join Anderson Cooper and Christiane Amanpour in Baghdad, Paula Zahn in New York, for our special reports "Iraq Votes." At 10:00 p.m., CNN journalists in Iraq share their stories under fire, "Stories From the New Iraq," tonight, only on CNN.

O'BRIEN: The California man accused of causing yesterday's deadly train collision won't be arraigned today after all. The proceeding has been put on hold. Authorities say Juan Manuel Alvarez parked his Jeep Cherokee on railroad tracks in a suicide attempt. He allegedly changed his mind and jumped out as the computer commuter train approached to save his own life, but he set off a deadly reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEE BACA, LOS ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF: He was depressed. He apparently had slashed his wrists, but not severely enough to cause himself fatal harm. And he was looking to commit suicide by getting on the tracks and having the train hit his car. Unfortunately, and tragically, it was his car that got caught up underneath the wheels of the train and caused the derailment that led to these deaths.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Eleven were killed in the crash. Alvarez is charged with murder. If he is convicted, he could face the death penalty.

PHILLIPS: Sixty years after the liberation of Auschwitz, a new generation of students is trying to grasp the lessons of the Holocaust.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I look around the room and I think about how devastating it would be if two-thirds of us were gone all at once.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Still ahead, how one high school teacher is trying to make sure those lessons are not forgotten.

And tomorrow on LIVE FROM, Congressman Harold Ford of Tennessee on his upcoming trip to Iraq, his plans and his concerns about security. That's tomorrow on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER UPDATE) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: You got a Ford pickup at home there?

PHILLIPS: You remember I used to and that's why I don't own it anymore.

O'BRIEN: And that R, when you put the thing in R, that stands for recall, not reverse, right?

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: I had issue with the tires, is what I had issues with.

O'BRIEN: Oh, you did?

PHILLIPS: Yes. Don't you remember? The exploder, isn't that what they called it?

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: I'm sorry. Oops. Sorry, Susan.

O'BRIEN: You are going to be talking to somebody from the sixth floor very shortly, I think.

O'BRIEN: Exactly.

(FINANCIAL UPDATE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right, this just in to CNN. We've been talking about so much about the election in Iraq. We're now being told the voting has begun in Sydney, Australia. We understand that 11,806 Iraqis have registered in Sydney. Now that voting process has begun.

As you know, a total of 280,000 Iraqi exiles in 14 countries now have registered to cast ballots in this first election since the fall of Saddam Hussein back in April of 2003. So we're going to start to follow the results, of course, as the election process has now begun.

O'BRIEN: A stark remembrance today for the murders of more than one million Jews. World leaders gathered on a frigid afternoon in Poland to remember the liberation of Auschwitz. Russian's Vladimir Putin one of 30 leaders participating today on the 60th anniversary of the Soviet seizure of the Nazi death camp.

The United States represented at the ceremony by Vice President Dick Cheney.

O'BRIEN: Now, joining me here on the set with more on the horrors of Auschwitz, watching it through her perch online is Veronica De La Cruz.

A lot of people talking about it online, aren't they?

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN QUICKCAST: A lot of people, Miles.

And I actually had a chance to speak with Steve Goldberg, who is based in CNN.com's London bureau. He took a tour of Auschwitz ahead of today's 60th anniversary. And he shares with us this very personal account.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVE GOLDBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One of the things that really struck me about my visit was the Gate of Death at Birkenau is very plain. But two miles away is where this infamous sign, "Arbeit Macht Frei, "Work Makes You Free," is located. But the sign is so cynical because the prisoners were forced on marches out of the camp to their labors, and at the end of the day, those that survived had to come back home carrying the corpses of the dead.

I wanted to see inside the barracks where the prisoners lived. Once I got inside it was dark and dank. I thought I'd rats scurrying inside. And yet this is where people had to sleep and live.

And then I saw the pictures, the drawings. These were beautiful drawings lovingly done by the women of the camp who, it felt to me, were trying to remind themselves or maybe their children of what life was like before the war.

At Birkenau there's a feeling of rawness. You can still sense the death and destruction.

Auschwitz One, the smaller camp, has been turned into essentially a museum piece. I walked through the exhibits and they are all striking. Piles of shoes from the prisoners or their suitcases, or even eye glasses stacked up in a pile.

But there was one room that really had the power to shock. There was this large glass case, and behind the glass it was filled with human hair, these beautiful braids that -- women's hair that had been cut from victims after they had been killed. And I just stood there and wanted to cry.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DE LA CRUZ: And that was Steve Goldberg with just one of the many powerful stories of remembrance on CNN.com.

O'BRIEN: All right, thank you very much, Veronica De La Cruz -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: It was a dilapidated former army barracks near southwest Poland. It's now known as the camp where the greatest mass murder in history took place. More than one million men, women and children were stripped of their identity and forced to die at the infamous Auschwitz death camp.

For survivors, it's a haunting memory. For kids today, it's an incomprehensible part of history. However, within that divide of generations, there is a unique individual making a connection. She's a very passionate high school teacher here in Atlanta, Georgia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There have been things that hit you, like keep repeating itself.

KYRA PHILLIPS, HOST, LIVE FROM : When it comes to the Holocaust students at Pope High School just outside Atlanta have lots to say.

MATT, GRADE 12: I look around the room, and I think about how devastating it would be if two thirds of us were gone. All at once. I can't understand how that could happen.

PHILLIPS: One student saw how it happened. She visited Auschwitz.

ERIN, GRADE 11: It was like a barn house. And it still -- it smelled awful. That you could smell the -- just people still there. I mean 60 years later.

PHILLIPS: After 60 years, the Holocaust is not forgotten. Not here.

BETH MULLING, HISTORY TEACHER, POPE HIGH SCHOOL: One of the most important things that we talk about in world history is tolerance.

PHILLIPS: These high schoolers are passionate about the past because of this woman, Beth Mulling, a history teacher with a personal connection. Her father fought in World War II. He brought back the photos, a Nazi flag, and a message for his daughter. She was to take his evidence of an evil past and teach.

MULLING: You can see anguish and agony. There eyes are still open. You can see physical features on their faces. And you see capos, Jewish guards, dragging their victims to the ovens. And those photographs, when the kids see them for the first time, are quite shocking.

PHILLIPS (on camera): Do the kids start crying?

MULLING: Yes, absolutely. It's terribly emotional.

PHILLIPS (voice-over): The lessons have given her students new perspective.

HILLARY, GRADE 10: If someone is strong enough to overcome something of that magnitude, if we can take that hope for life and that reason to live and we can bring that all together, we can definitely change the way that the future is headed.

PHILLIPS: And a new sense of responsibility.

JONATHAN, GRADE 12: I think most powerful thing is stuff like we're doing right now, getting together in groups, talking about it. Why did it happen? How can this never happen again? What can we do to make sure that this doesn't happen again? PHILLIPS (on camera): Why do you think it's so important to remember that time in history now, decades later? Sixty years later?

MICHELLE, GRADE 11: We can't just let a day like this pass without appreciating the significance of it. It can't be, you know, something that you turn on the news and you see it on the bottom of the screen and then you change the channel. People have to really come to terms with what happened so that we can make sure that it doesn't happen again.

PHILLIPS: You know, you take on a tremendous responsibility, teaching the Holocaust.

MULLING: Absolutely. And one that I relish. I get emotional about it. I get upset about it. I cry. I cry in front of my kids. It's embarrassing. My nose turns red. My makeup runs.

And I do it gleefully twice a year, because it's the most important thing I'll ever tell my kids. And I tell them from the very get-go, I'll never tell you anything that matters any more than this. And you don't have to remember any dates, and you're not having a test on it. This is about basic humanity. And that's why it matters so very much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: She gives that lecture twice a year. Everybody talks. Nobody wants to miss it. They pack the rooms.

O'BRIEN: Yes. You know, there is a little lesson in humanity as well in just looking at those kids. And, clearly, I presume they were kind of honor students, kind of handpicked, but, nevertheless, really well-spoken, had some really interesting things to say and I think understood the history. And that's good to see.

PHILLIPS: Yes, the teenagers, it was interesting. There was a guidance counselor in there that, if they got emotional and were disturbed by what we were talking about, the guidance counselor was there to sort of deal with it.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

PHILLIPS: No one -- everyone said, no, we're fine. We understand this. And, if anything, we got to talk about it more, so we're more tolerant as a younger generation. It gives you hope definitely about the future of our kids.

O'BRIEN: It's nice to see kids of that age who are so thoughtful. And, as you say, it gives you a lot of hope for what lies ahead for all of us.

PHILLIPS: That's it. They knew more about World War II than all of us, the entire crew.

(LAUGHTER)

O'BRIEN: Yes. That's probably so.

All right, good job, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: That wraps up LIVE FROM.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com