On Wednesday, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies (FSWC) hosted a group of Grades 9 and 10 students from a local Toronto Catholic high school in the Tom & Anna Koffler Tolerance Training Centre for a Genocide and the Power of Action workshop. This particular group is leaving on Friday for a trip to Washington D.C to the U.S Holocaust Memorial Museum so Wednesday’s workshop was a great way to solidify all background information and answer any outstanding questions before their trip. 

The group was quiet but it was evident from their expressions that they were taking in the images and videos. FSWC Educator Daniella spent time discussing both the historical significance of antisemitism as well as current hate crime statistics involving minority groups. The class seemed surprised that hate crimes are a problem in Toronto, with one student even commenting that Canada is such a “peaceful country and Toronto is so multicultural”. Daniella agreed with them that yes, we were all lucky to live in Canada, but that was also exactly why we have a responsibility to understand how developed nations are capable of genocide and what we could do to ensure our Canadian rights and freedoms continue. 

In the afternoon, Holocaust survivor Gerda Frieberg came in to speak to the group and shared her personal story of survival. The contact teacher had specifically requested a female survivor in order to give the predominantly female-class a different perspective on the Holocaust (as they had already heard a male survivor speak and read male testimony). 

Tour for Humanity was also on the road in Windsor, Ontario at Catholic High School.  This school was very culturally diverse with many students who had immigrated to Canada within the last few years. Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) Educator Elena taught 4 workshops in total to Grades 10 and 11 students. The first three workshops were on the Canadian Experience (In this workshop, students learn about a variety of difficult topics in Canadian history including the Indian Residential Schools System and the systemic internment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War. Following a review of the past, current issues including cyber bullying and modern-day examples of intolerance are examined and discussed) and the last group of the day, the law class, learned about the Holocaust and other genocides of the 20th century. 

Elena found the Grade 10 students had an emerging knowledge about the Holocaust, which made this a very important visit. A few of the students had questions about some of the logistics on how the Nazis committed their crimes and the types of people that we targeted by the Nazis and, as usual, Elena spent a lot of time pointing things out on the map of Europe to give them a visual of how things progressed during the war.  Elena talked extensively about antisemitism and the genocide committed against Jews by the Nazis and their collaborators. 

This school has all Grade 11 students read Night by Elie Wiesel and it was clear that students who had read it understood the Holocaust on a whole different level than the Grade 10 students. The school also has their students create an art piece to commemorate the Holocaust in their own personal way as part of their evaluation. Elena talked about imagery they could use and she also suggested they investigate the artwork created by Jewish children in the Terezin concentration camp.The last workshop on genocide was also really meaningful. 

One young woman wanted to know more about sterilization and Elena talked about the significance of this in different genocidal situations. Murder on a broad scale is always a characteristic of genocide, but it is also extremely important to the perpetrators to prevent the next generation from being born. Elena encouraged students to reflect on how taking away peoples' ability to reproduce is a powerful and often irreversible act of dehumanization.  The Nazis engaged in sterilization campaigns against Jews, Roma and the disabled. Elena also told them about how a lot of African men living in France during the Nazi occupation were frequently sterilized and experimented on.