Today, Tour for Humanity continued its Hamilton week at a Catholic secondary school in Stoney Creek. Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) Educator Daniella worked with a Grade 9, 10 and two Grade 12 classes. Period 3 brought a Grade 12 religion class on the bus, where there was a good discussion about religion and race as it applied to the Jewish people during the Nazi era. Daniella asked the students to classify Judaism as either a race or religion (they naturally chose religion) and then we discussed how the Nazis equated one with the other, which also meant conversion did not change anything. Period 2 was a Grade 12 Genocide course (similar to the class yesterday at a different school) except this class was taught by a teacher who has previously been involved with FSWC. She spoke to Daniella both before and after the workshop and explained that she had been on Tools for Tolerance years ago and how that experience shaped her entire career as a teacher. She is already talking about bringing her class to FSWC to participate in further workshops and hear Holocaust survivor Max Eisen speak.

During the last period of the day we were joined by MPP Paul Miller and a reporter from the local newspaper. Both stayed for the duration of the workshop, and MPP Miller said a few words at the beginning of the workshop, reminding students about the importance of standing up against hatred. That class also turned out to be the most inquisitive with regards to Hitler’s rise to power. Coming from a democracy like Canada, the class had trouble understanding how Hitler was able to change laws to suit his antisemitic agenda. They kept asking questions like: “How did he keep getting re-elected?” or “What happened to the other political parties?” Daniella explained that Hitler essentially gave himself all the power so he would be able to stay Chancellor indefinitely. She also explained to the class that many democratic governments today have rules and regulations in place to ensure that does not happen again.