Today we hosted the second round of students from a Catholic secondary school from Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board for a Roots of Hate and Intolerance workshop. Once again the students were lovely to work with and this group was particularly interested in the Holocaust.

Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) Educator Daniella went through a condensed version of FSWC’s Lessons and Legacies of the Holocaust workshop before lunch, and then to wrap up after lunch Daniella asked the group if they had any questions. She spent an additional 30 minutes discussing the Holocaust. The first question that was raised was one student wanting to know a bit more about life inside of a concentration camp.  Daniella took them through the experience beginning with the arrival at the camp, in some cases being tattooed, having their heads shaved, given a uniform or rags and then given a job. Daniella also made a note about how at the initial arrival families were often torn apart.

From there, students wanted to know everything they could think of – we discussed the response of the rest of the world, so Daniella told them the story of the Red Cross arriving in Theresienstadt and Canada’s treatment of Jewish refugees through the story of the M.S. St. Louis. There was also a discussion of the use of the swastika in history, one student wanted to know why the Nazis chose a peaceful Hindu symbol, so Daniella discussed the use of symbolization during the Holocaust. She also covered antisemitism and hate crimes today. Daniella told them about the antisemitic graffiti that was found on the Highway overpass just this past summer and they were horrified.