Pride in my Hometown

Tonight, I am very proud of my hometown of Fredericton, and even more so of two grade six classes at Ecole St Anne - the francophone school in the city.

Without giving away any details, it has been brought to my attention that several members of the community and Frederictonians have offered to help out in the funding efforts of these classes. I am thrilled to hear this - what a fantastic sense of community and pride in our youth and education!

The article speaks for itself, and I strongly urge you to take the time to read it. I will be speaking to these classes on my experiences traveling overseas to sites such as Auschwitz, upon returning home at Christmas time.

"Grade 6 class takes on racism and religious persecution" 

In other news, I strongly urge you to seek out the film - and book - entitled "Hana's Suitcase". I have not had the opportunity to get my hands on a copy of either, but have had heard fantastic things from many people.

"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the whole ocean does not become dirty." - Mohandas Ghandi

Additional Materials

I have recently signed up for "Google Alerts", under the keyword "Holocaust".

I just thought I would share a few interesting links with you, should you be interested in any further reading.

"The preservation of Auschwitz-Birkenau keeps WWII legacy"
I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on this "debate" - should Birkenau be left to turn to "nothingness" ? Leave me a comment below with your opinions.

"Holocaust survivor gets the diploma Nazis denied him"

"MetaMaus: Art Speigelman revisits his astonishing graphic novel about the Holocaust"

"The Ultimate Survivor"

Honoured, and excited

As promised, I'm writing a quick blog post to update you all with my most recent project - which is very exciting!

However, first, I wanted to do a quick plug for MRH itself...the 2012 trip is scheduled for 13-21 May 2012. Applications can be found on the Centre for Diversity website (here) and should be available this coming week.

One of my favourite photos I took on MRH.
Survivor Pinchas Gutter [from Lodz, Poland]
walking with MRH participants.

I have been offered the opportunity [and graciously accepted!] to write a memoir for a Holocaust survivor living here, in Halifax. Steven Markus, originally from Hungary, has so politely shared his experiences of WWII, anti-Semitism and the Holocaust with me, and will continue to do so as we proceed with this project together.

Markus currently has 27 pages of his memoir completed, which I have been reviewing and editing, and he still has plenty of stories and much of his story left to go. I am so thrilled I am able to help him with this, as well as learn his story - more lessons to carry with me and use to educate others.

Markus' story is unbelievable - he and his brother survived, while his mother, father and sister perished in Auschwitz. Markus' story is one of miracles - many miracles, and continuous faith. It truly is a remarkable story and different than all other survivor stories I have heard thus far.

Please stay tuned over the coming weeks for more stories and posts about Mr Markus and my work with his memoir.

An update..

My friend Emily, who I have been urging to apply to MRH [I'm so excited for her to do so!], found this little comic in her Internet cruise today, and passed it along to me.

A fantastic little comic with a wonderful lesson and something that so many survivors have in common - the incentive to teach younger generations. I am so thankful for the survivors and those who have decided to do this; I know Faigie and Pinchas - the survivors I traveled with in Germany and Poland this summer - made a huge impact on my life. As did Philip Riteman, a survivor living in Halifax that I had the honor of meeting last spring.

Stay tuned in the next day or two for a blog post about my recent activity: a class talk and a new, exciting adventure and project that I've taken on which has led me to meet another survivor in the Halifax area - Steven Markus!

"Silence never helps the victim"

The title of this blog post, a quote from Dr. Susanna Kokkonen relates greatly to some of the teachings of the March of Remembrance and Hope and the quote we wore proudly on our MRH t-shirts that has become such a huge motivator and explanation of our vision:

"Be not a victim,
Be not a perpetrator,
But above all - be not a bystander"
- inspired by Yehuda Bauer

Birkenau (Auschwitz II) and the 'famous' gate.

This idea, that by refraining from continuing to teach Holocaust education and continue the stories of survivors is really no different than turning a shoulder to what was going on during WWII. I have heard the question posed several times: "why should we continue to study the Holocaust", especially since there have been genocides and mass murders since?

While this is an important question, and the controversy regarding the Canadian Museum of Human Rights [set for completion in 2013] and their specific Holocaust 'zone' comes in to play and raises valid points, I think it is important that the Holocaust be studied as more than simply a genocide or mass murder. There were many implications regarding the Holocaust that must be studied to fully understand it and the evil of the Nazi Party: the anti-semitism and it's roots, the economy of Germany and Europe as a whole, the use of concentration and extermination camps, etc. While there have been since genocides, which yes, we should study, the scale of the Holocaust itself proves its importance and the need to study it in 2011, some 70 years later. (You can read more about the controversy regarding the anticipated Winnipeg museum, here).

Another issue that should be noted is the use of "German" when studying the Holocaust and the definition of "Nazi". I know my friend Camille pointed this out to me when my blog was just starting last winter/spring, and I think it is important to draw attention to. While it's often just a slip or generalization, we often target the Germans as the perpetrators of the Holocaust. This, however, is not the case. It was the Nazi party and their followers - mostly Germans, however, not all Germans who were involved in the dehumanization and attacks on the Jewish peoples. I know I spoke of the national guilt in a previous blog post, and I think that being specific in the group to which we are speaking, and the group held responsible for the Holocaust, is important in eliminating this feeling. Without specification, how are we any better than those who discriminate? It is mere generalization and feelings of dislike towards a group that should not be held responsible.

There was another Holocaust Education Week event this evening that I had hoped to make it to, but did not. I won't be able to attend any other events, but I urge you to check out the schedule if you are in Halifax, and attend any and everything you can!

My apologies for any format problems with this blogpost; Blogger was not cooperating this evening.