The Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre is hosting several events in the coming weeks.
On Oct. 20, 7 p.m., at the Vancity Culture Lab (the Cultch), the VHEC invites people to the screening of two works by filmmaker Wendy Oberlander, a second-generation descendant.
The films explore the Holocaust, the construction of memory and history, and the experiences of Jews in Europe before and during the Second World War. Layering archival images, personal narratives and original music, they reveal complex and often unspoken family histories – stories that continue to resonate today.
Nothing to be Written Here (1996) traces Oberlander’s discovery of her father’s wartime experiences. Her father’s exile from Austria in 1938, internment in Britain in 1940 and deportation to Canada remained in the shadows of family life until a chance encounter.
Still (Stille) (2001) looks back to the world of assimilated Jews in Berlin before the Second World War. A montage of archival footage, with original music by Lori Freedman and Peggy Lee, unravels the filmmaker’s inheritance of her mother’s story.
The screenings, which will be followed by a Q&A with Oberlander, are presented by the VHEC’s Generations After program. Those wishing to attend must RSVP.
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Since the FIFA World Cup, the VHEC has hosted two online discussions on intersection of football, Holocaust history and the persistent challenges of inclusion and discrimination in global sport. The third discussion in the series – Holocaust in the Modern Stadium – will take place on Oct. 27 in East Vancouver. It will consider questions such as: Is Holocaust education and remembrance in sport making an impact? How can we champion inclusion and human rights in sport and in our society?
Panelists include José Antonio Guevara Bermúdez, a Mexican lawyer, human rights expert and academic with more than 25 years of experience in international human rights law, and Daniel Lörcher, a founder and director of the organization What Matters, which works with organizations and corporations that seek to develop and implement projects focusing on addressing antisemitism, racism and other forms of discrimination. The event will be moderated by Ellie Lawson, the VHEC’s education manager, and will include remarks from a representative of the Vancouver Whitecaps and from VHEC executive director Hannah Marazzi.
The evening will start with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres at 5:15 p.m., with the program beginning at 6 p.m.
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Also in October, the VHEC will hold its annual general meeting. In addition to the business of the AGM, the Oct. 14, 7 p.m., meeting, will see Life Fellow Awards given to recipients yet to be announced, and the presentation of Kron Sigal Award for Excellence in Holocaust Education to Ryan Holly (Kelowna Secondary School) and Hofit Sabi (Vancouver Talmud Torah) by Lise Kirchner, VHEC education director. Kirchner will talk on the topic Teaching the Holocaust in a Digital Age.
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The community’s annual Kristallnacht commemoration, which the VHEC hosts with Congregation Beth Israel, will take place at a location to be announced 24 hours before the event on Nov. 9, 7 p.m. The gathering will feature Dr. Heidi Tworek, director of the Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions at the University of British Columbia, who will speak about the history and significance of Kristallnacht and its place within the broader history of the Holocaust. Drawing on her expertise as a historian, Tworek will explore how we understand moments of escalating persecution, the role of media and public communication, and the importance of remembering this history today. The event will be livestreamed.
To register for any of these events, visit vhec.org.
– Courtesy Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre
