POWAY, Calif. — In what Poway High School’s principal called an unfortunate coincidence, Monday marked the beginning of the Poway School District’s No Place for Hate Week – a week of events designated to better educate people on acceptance.
As Poway mourns tragedy, 17-year-old Poway High School student Talia Schauder is sharing her grandfather's story in hopes building a more tolerant community.
"He was a child. He was seven years old when the war began. He was robbed of his childhood."
Paul Schauder was born to a Jewish family in Worms, Germany in 1931. By the age of seven, he went into hiding where he remained for years, fearing Nazi persecution, until being liberated by American soldiers.
Talia had strong words denouncing Saturday's hate filled attack.
"We have to stand up to it. We can't be pushed down and afraid because if we stop going to services, we stop following our beliefs, we're letting hate win. People don't realize it's real until it happens, and it happened in our neighborhood. People are having to realize this antisemitism, this hate that's in this world, it's here. What are we going to do?" she said.
"We are all so fortunate that we were able to grow up in a somewhat normal society, even though there still is anti-Semitism, and there still is hate towards people's differences. And that's what we need to work to change," she said.
As the Poway community continues to heal from tragedy, Talia hopes to continue using her voice to unite.
"There's going to be hate that's spread everywhere, for no reason. When we can learn from our past and we can create the better tomorrow, but we just must work for it," she said.