‍

Tour for Humanity spent today, its second day in a row, at a junior middle school in Toronto. Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) Educator Elena was able to work with 7 groups of students over the course of the day (FSWC Educator Daniella did the same yesterday) - bringing the total number of workshops over the past two days to 14 and the number of students worked with to 420. All of the Grades 7 and 8 students took part in the Canadian Experience workshop. 

The students impressed Elena with their attentiveness and thoughtful questions. Students were, as usual, filled with questions about the Holocaust. The students at this school were aware that Anne Frank's diary was 75 years old on Monday and so Elena talked a lot about children and teenagers and their experiences during the Holocaust. One student wanted to know why children were often killed immediately on arrival at the camps and so Elena talked about the Nazi selection process and utilitarian view of human life; anyone incapable of doing work was seen as worthless. This was doubly true for Jewish children, since the Nazis sought to completely eradicate Jewish communities across Europe. Another interesting question came from a young man who wanted to know more about Simon Wiesenthal's work as a Nazi hunter and the fate of Nazis captured after World War II. He asked if all of the Nazis were shot by the allies after their defeat, so Elena spent time talking about the distinction between "revenge" and "justice". Key to bringing justice to a situation like the Holocaust was having the perpetrators of the violence put on public trial and let the world know their crimes. Some of the Nazis were sentenced to death, although the number is very few. Others were put in jail and served sentences that ranged in length. Finally, there were many Nazis that were tried and even found guilty that never went to jail. This includes many female SS officers known for their brutality in the camps. The majority of people who were members of the Nazi party or may have worked with the Nazis in some way were never tried for any crimes. 

There were also some good discussions following Elena's presentations of certain trends of intolerance in Canadian history. Elena spent a lot of time talking about residential schools and she was pleased to see that a lot of the students were familiar with the photos of Thomas Moore. Elena told them all something she had learned very recently, and that was that Thomas Moore sadly passed away when he was only 13 years of age because of tuberculosis (TB), likely shortly after the 2nd picture was taken. Many students were sad to hear that and one of the groups wanted to know why so many kids got sick in the schools. Elena told them about the poor conditions of the buildings, substandard food, and fact that kids were sometimes punished with things like standing outside at night in sub-zero weather. Another factor was that Aboriginal children had much less immunity to certain diseases that are common among European populations and therefore were much more likely to die from TB, the flu, and other ailments. 

Elena ended the day with some hate crime statistics and talked with the students about the fact that lots of people still use the swastika and other symbols of hate, often in schools and parks where kids hang out. Elena told them all to think about how they want the world to see them and encouraged them to be a voice for human rights and respect, not fear or hate.