Preloading

The Life-Changing Experience of Learning About the Holocaust at 23

Season 6 Episode 625
Aired on 11/22/2015 | CC tv-14
Zainab Salbi first took a stand for women's rights at the age of 23. It was the early 1990s, and Zainab, having recently left Iraq for the United States, was getting a different kind of formal education than the one she grew up with as a member of Saddam Hussein's inner circle. When she learned about the Holocaust for the first time, she was horrified to realize that elsewhere in the world, amidst the conflict between Bosnia and Croatia, concentration camps were being set up. If the world said "never again" after World War II, how could we repeat our mistakes in modern times, she wondered. That's when Zainab decided to get on a plane and confront the day's atrocities face-to-face.

In the video above, the best-selling author reveals the "childlike logic" behind her decision to join the fight for women's rights.