Today, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies (FSWC) welcomed 60 eager Grade 7 students from a local public school for a Genocide & The Power of Action workshop. The group was made up of 3 gifted level classes and the students had worked through multiple complex historical issues prior to attending the workshop. 

Students were engaged throughout the presentation, asking questions at virtually all points of the workshop. Questions began surrounding the Nuremberg Race Chart, which most students had never seen.  FSWC Educator Daniella spent a considerable amount of time discussing both the chart itself and the wider implications of the racial laws. A young girl wanted to know more about the treatment of “mischlings” (people of part Jewish and part Aryan ancestry) so Daniella helped explain that the treatment varied by country and by the year of the war. Another girl wanted to know why Hitler would not let the Jewish people leave the country when that was his ultimate goal. Daniella explained that part of the reason was due to the fact that Hitler’s Final Solution wasn’t to not have Jewish people in Germany, but to eliminate the Jewish population entirely. Questions then shifted to the individual Nuremberg Laws and how restrictive life became. Students were curious as to why Jewish actors would be fired so Daniella gave the group an overview of how antisemitism infiltrated every aspect of life, in other words – the Aryan population would not want to be entertained by Jewish performers. 

The class also listened to Holocaust survivor Faigie Libman share her moving and impactful story with the students. All 60 students listened quietly and intently and asked very interesting questions at the end of the presentation.  They wanted to know more both about her life before the war and what it was like arriving in Canada as a refugee after the war. 

The Tour for Humanity finished out the week in Sault Ste. Marie (and our second week of our Northern Ontario spring trip) at another high school. FSWC Educator Elena taught 6 workshops on the Canadian Experience to students from Grades 7- 10. In this workshop, students learn about a variety of difficult topics in Canadian history including slavery, the Indian Residential Schools System, the voyage of the SS St. Louis and the systemic internment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War. Following a review of the past, current issues including cyber bullying and modern-day examples of intolerance are examined and discussed.  Elena was able to work with a lot of the school’s students throughout the day and were very warmly received by the school,

The students were very attentive and curious about the materials discussed. Students were eager to discuss World War II and the Nazis and had many questions that reflect some of the themes covered in popular history shows currently airing like “Hunting Hitler” and “Hitler’s Secret Bunkers.” Elena addressed these questions seriously and tried to demystify Hitler and the National Socialist party but she also spent some time pointing out that most shows on the Nazis, even ones that seem like “documentaries”, are not being made because the people making them have new ideas or information to share, but because they know they can make a profit by focusing on one of the most popular historical subjects.  Elena told the students that the best way to learn about the Nazis and Hitler is through reading and taking the time to process and think critically about the information.

Another question that came up a few times on Friday, and arises most days on Tour for Humanity, is how people could accept and even participate in violence against Jewish people. It is difficult for students who know little of European history to understand the normalization of antisemitism on such a broad scale so FSWC educators try to give students some background on antisemitism in history and in the decades leading up to World War II.

Students in all of the Sault Ste. Marie schools FSWC visited were very aware of residential schools and this history of intolerance in Canada. Elena worked with many First Nations students throughout the week and their understanding of the lasting impact these policies have had are evident even at times within their own families - one teacher told Elena that many of their Aboriginal students had parents and grandparents who used to attend the residential school in town.