This morning, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center's (FSWC) Education Department facilitated a Lessons and Legacies of the Holocaust workshop at a secondary school in Woodbridge. The school typically invites FSWC to come in once per semester to speak to their Grade 11 religion classes. There were over 300 students in attendance this morning, all of whom listened intently to Holocaust survivor Max Eisen tell his story. Multiple other teachers also came in to listen, along with school administrators and even the janitorial staff.  

One of the school’s Vice Principals began the workshop by speaking to his students. He informed them that it was so important for the students to learn from the past and that the Holocaust can never be forgotten. He spoke of “pivotal moments” in his life, including the assassination of JKF and the moon landing – telling the students that hearing a survivor speak will be a similar experience that they will remember for the rest of their lives. 

Being a catholic school, the assembly began with a prayer. As FSWC Educator Daniella listened to the words, they included a line of “let us pray for the 6 million so that they may never be forgotten” – which she found quite touching.  

At the end of the assembly, multiple students and teachers came up to thank Daniella and Max for speaking this morning. Daniella had mentioned to the contact teacher in passing that Max had had a birthday last week, so the school presented him with balloons and a lovely bouquet of flowers. 

Tour for Humanity was also on the road today, spending its second day in a row at a public school in Richmond Hill. FSWC Educator Elena was working with Grades 7-8 students only and so all of the presentations were on the Canadian Experience. It was another very successful day and our location on the playground meant we had tons of kids and staff stop in due to their curiosity about Tour for Humanity. Elena had a lot of Grades 4-5 students who were quite disappointed that they weren't going to get to come the bus for a workshop. 

Most of the classes Elena worked with over the 2 days at were French immersion and Elena felt that overall this school had students that were very knowledgeable and engaged. There were also quite a few Jewish students and we heard some touching personal stories about grandparents and great-grandparents who survived the Holocaust. One very bright young woman shared a lot during the 3rd presentation of the day. Her family is Hungarian and Jewish and from Elena's understanding, her family came to Canada after the failed Hungarian revolution of 1956. 

One of the interesting conversations of the day started when another Jewish student asked why Hitler was attacking Jews in Europe when Israel is the state of the Jewish people (therefore it would be more logical for the Nazis to attack Israel).  She was shocked to learn that most Jewish people lived outside of Israel before World War II and that Israel didn't become the Jewish nation until after the war.  Elena emphasized that one of the main reasons that millions of Jewish people have made Israel their homeland in recent decades is because of their long history of persecution in the Europe, culminating in the Holocaust.