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May 14, 2004
Students meet survivors
KYLE BERGER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
They listened carefully and they learned. And, by the end of the
two-day event, hundreds of students from 32 different Lower Mainland
secondary schools went home with a new understanding of the Holocaust.
The students were participants in the 29th Annual High School Symposium
on the Holocaust, held May 5 and 6 at the University of British
Columbia (UBC). The program included sessions with 21 different
Holocaust survivors, several history professors and video presentations
aimed at opening the students' minds to what took place in Nazi
Germany and the realities of hatred. These sessions were followed
by a feature presentation by Solly Ganor, who survived the Kovno
Ghetto, a slave labor camp and a death march from the Dachau concentration
camp. Ganor has published a book, Light One Candle, and currently
has an exhibition by the same name at the Vancouver Holocaust Education
Centre (VHEC).
Each day of the symposium also included a panel discussion where
the students were given the opportunity to ask survivors questions.
The panel included child survivors Katy Hughes, David Ehrlich, Peter
Parker and Ganor, as well as UBC Prof. Richard Menkis. The panel
was moderated by Dr. Robert Krell, past president of the VHEC and
professor emeritus of the department of psychiatry at UBC.
One of the questions asked focused on how the survivors feel when
they see genocide still taking place, almost 60 years after they
were liberated.
Ganor said simply that genocides cannot be tolerated anywhere in
the world. Ehrlich agreed with Ganor's sentiments, but recognized
a small change in how the world is attempting to respond to such
acts of hatred "At least there is something being done."
Each day ended with a special candlelighting ceremony dedicated
to all the victims of the Holocaust.
For many students, learning of the Holocaust was not new to them,
as their history classes had provided some background information.
However, hearing actual survivors tell their horrifying stories
brought a new light to their understanding of events.
"I've been exposed to a lot of information about the Holocaust,
but what I found really impactful today was hearing from the survivors,"
said Elyse Newbert, a Grade 12 student from Lord Byng secondary.
"It's one thing to read about it in a textbook or see images
of it, but to actually hear from someone who has gone through it
and hear their story really puts things into perspective."
Newbert's Jewish classmate, Rachel Aberle, has heard Holocaust survivors
speak before. She was gratified that so many non-Jewish students
had the opportunity to bear witness as well.
"This is the first time I've really been in a focused group
learning about the Holocaust with a group that wasn't all Jewish
youth," she said. "It was really comforting to know that
this is widely learned about and not just concentrated toward the
Jewish youth."
The survivors who spoke at the symposium include Ganor, Hughes,
Ehrlich, Parker, Lola Apfelbaum, Jack Benish, Agi Bergida, Susan
Bluman, Alex Buckman, Marion Cassirer, Mariette Doduck, Serge Haber,
Chaim Kornfeld, Inge Manes, Jack Micner, Rhodea Shandler, Bronia
Sonnenschein, Louise Sorensen, Peter Suedfeld, Borge Stromgren,
Bente Thomsen and Robbie Waisman.
The event was sponsored by the Waldman Fund of the VHEC, the Jewish
Federation of Greater Vancouver, UBC, Meyer and Gita Kron, the Leo
Krell Memorial Book and the Lehrer Endowment Funds of the VHEC.
Kyle Berger is a freelance journalist and graphic designer
living in Richmond.
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