Today, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies (FSWC) provided workshops to students in Grades 1-6 at an elementary school in Concord.  Over the course of 2 hours, FSWC Educator Elena saw approximately 250 students who were filled with lots of interesting questions and comments. 

The first workshop was a special abbreviated version of FSWC's Simon’s Story workshop for primary students in Grades 1-3.  Approximately 100 students were present and they very much enjoyed the presentation (many students came up to Elena at the end to express their interest and to give her a hug). They were younger than our usual audiences but their lack of experience with the topic was definitely made up for by their enthusiasm and excitement. One of the wisest comments from this group came from a young boy who answered Elena's question, “What kind of people do you consider to be heroes?” He responded that everyone could be heroes and said, “We have the power to help each other and stop bad things like bullying.” Rather than detailing the horrors of the Holocaust, Elena spent time talking about how the violence experienced by Simon Wiesenthal and other people during World War II is similar to things we see around us every day when people are bystanders to exclusion, bullying, and violence. 

The second workshop included 150 students from Grades 4-6 and was more focused on the Holocaust and Simon Wiesenthal’s life after surviving the Holocaust. The students were very excited to be talking about Hitler and the Nazis and there were a number of Jewish students who took pride in sharing their own family’s history during the Shoah. One young man, who was extremely knowledgeable for a Grade 5 student, told Elena afterward that his great-grandfather had been a Jewish leader in a small town in Poland and that he had tried to save a lot of people during the war. When Elena left, the same boy had a small group of students gathered around and he was telling them about Hitler’s failed career as an artist.  The school is interested in further exploring some other FSWC programs to work with smaller groups in the school in the future. 

Tour for Humanity was also on the road today, starting off another busy week at a public school in Oakville. It was the first of a two-day visit organized by a school principal who had previously booked the Tour for Humanity at another school she was teaching at two years ago; she remembered the experience very fondly and wanted students at her new school to have a similar experience.

FSWC Educator Daniella worked with all of the Grades 4 and 5 classes - six in total - all of whom participated in the Simon’s Story workshop. Working with younger students always results in interesting questions and comments and today was no different. Practically all of the classes were very curious about the Holocaust and asked multiple questions ranging from why the Nazis targeted the Jewish people to “what if” scenarios regarding being taken to concentration camps. Some of my favourite questions were: “What if you get a baseball bat and hit the Nazis with it and then they leave you alone” and “What if people in the camps climbed over the fences and hid in the forest.”  Daniella stated that neither of those scenarios were feasible and she explained why. One Grade 5 class was also very eager to share their personal family stories that related to the Holocaust, including one girl who told her class about how her grandmother had survived the war by hiding in the forest and trying to hunt for food after her husband was taken to a concentration camp. Another girl shared a story about a relative that lost her entire family during the war.