Today the Tour for Humanity spent its second day of workshops in Orillia, this time parked at Brian Orser Arena with students travelling to visit us for the programming. The day started off on a lovely note when an elderly woman who lived in an apartment next door stopped to check the bus out while Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies (FSWC) Educator Elena was setting up. Elena told her about the Tour for Humanity and our travels around Ontario. She could not get over how incredible a resource the bus is for young people. She disappeared for a few minutes and came back with a donation for the organization. 

Tour for Humanity continued to have the support of the OPP today as well. An officer from the Hate Crimes unit introduced each workshop for the Grade 7 students who took part in programming from two nearby elementary schools. All students participated in the Canadian Experience workshop. 

The first workshop of the day had some students who were truly outstanding in their knowledge of the Holocaust. Most students had read either The Boy in the Striped Pajamas or The Book Thief. When Elena asked for someone to define the word Holocaust, a young man gave probably the best summary Elena had ever heard from a student so young; he included the election of the Nazis in 1933 and the concept of "genocide" in relation to Jewish victims. 

Elena also had some interesting, more general questions asked about World War II. One young man wanted to know more about the atomic bombs dropped on Japan, including who made them, what their names were, and how many people were killed by them. Elena told them very briefly about the Manhattan Project and the race to create a nuclear weapon during the war, leading to the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima with the atomic bombs, Fat Man and Little Boy. Elena also talked about Anne Frank several times throughout the day. A couple of the groups had clearly talked about Anne in preparation for our visit so Elena made sure to tell them all about the anniversary marking the 75th birthday of the diary and spent some time talking about Anne's journey during the Holocaust in contrast to Simon Wiesenthal's experiences and survival. 

Special thanks to the OPP for the incredible amount of time and effort that they devoted to the Tour for Humanity visit. Thank you to all of the officers that attended the workshops (there was at least one officer at every workshop) and introduced the Tour for Humanity to the students.