Today Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies (FSWC) visited a secondary school in Burlington, facilitating a Lessons and Legacies of the Holocaust workshop along with Holocaust survivor Gershon Willinger. There were approximately 170 Grades 10 and 11 students in attendance, all of whom listened very intently for the duration of the workshop. Today was especially meaningful because Gershon’s granddaughter attends this high school and was part of the group. The organizing teacher of today's program spoke quite poignantly, stating that he wanted his students to be aware of the consequences of intolerance and also increase the personal connection to history by meeting a survivor.

At the end of his testimony, Gershon left the students with a very powerful message. He said that telling his story is so important because there are people in the world today that deny the Holocaust happened at all, and by telling his story, they now bear witness to the history of his people. 

Tour for Humanity was also on the road today in Brampton. Many students in today's sessions were older than FSWC educators typically see in the regular school system, therefore some of their knowledge of particular events allowed for much more in-depth discussions. The first half of the day was a 2-hour workshop on Global Perspectives in Genocide for selected students with FSWC Educator Elena. There was one young man who had clearly studied the Vietnam War in great detail and consequently knew a lot about the activities of the American military in the Cambodia-Vietnam border region during the years leading into the genocide of 1975-79. The same student also informed the group that during the breakdown of Yugoslavia, Canadian peacekeepers were sent into Croatia to establish demilitarized zones and strategies to combat violence. Another student from the same class also knew quite a bit about Canada's history as a peacekeeping nation. He was very interested in Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire (Ret'd) and stayed back after the workshop to talk to Elena. He informed her that his goal is to join the military when he receives his GED.  Elena was pleased to hear of this life-goal from a student who clearly understood that things are never as simple as "good and evil" and some of the subtleties of the genocides they had talked about. 

In another workshop, when Elena mentioned the fact that violence against women is often a reality of genocide and war, one female student asked whether FGM (female genital mutilation) is considered a genocidal act.  Elena explained that the intention to kill and destroy is not really present in that situation, although you can definitely talk about the idea that this practice is used to reinforce the power and supremacy of men in many cultures. There are a lot of atrocities and examples of violence that may not fit into the definition of genocide, but that doesn't suggest that these crimes are not serious or also worthy of study.  

Another meaningful moment from the day came from a student who stayed behind to tell Elena how much he appreciated the lesson (he was sitting in on the 2-hour Canadian Experience workshop). He told Elena that he was born in Canada but spent 7 years as a child in Afghanistan where his parents are from. Elena shared a short excerpt of Holocaust Survivor Max Eisen's testimony on www.neverforgetme.ca and this student approached Elena after to tell her that he "recognized the look in Max's eyes" and was really drawn to his story. He told her that he had seen a lot of violence and actually suffers from PTSD as a result of things he witnessed while in Afghanistan. He also admitted that he was guilty of using violence himself before he started to work through some of his trauma. He told Elena that he is fascinated with the Holocaust and feels a strong connection to that time and some of the other genocides discussed because he feels he has seen hatred first-hand.