Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre

City recognizes Vrba’s legacy

Geoffrey Druker, left, and Glen Steinman hold the City of Vancouver proclamation of April 7, 2026, as Rudolf Vrba Day. (photo from Vrba Projects / VHEC)

The Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre (VHEC) welcomes the City of Vancouver’s Proclamation designating April 7, 2026, as “Rudolf Vrba Day.”

In the proclamation, Mayor Ken Sim notes that Rudolf Vrba, who was deported to Auschwitz at age 17, escaped from the camp on April 7, 1944, and risked his life to expose the reality of Nazi atrocities. His actions helped bring forward one of the earliest and most authoritative eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust. Vrba later made Vancouver his home, where he lived and worked for nearly four decades as a distinguished professor at the University of British Columbia.

photo - Rudolf Vrba — Rudolf Vrba *(photo from Vrba Projects / VHEC)*

The proclamation further recognizes that the report produced by Vrba and co-escapee Alfred Wetzler – now known as the Vrba-Wetzler Report – is widely credited with helping halt the deportation of Hungarian Jews and contributing to the saving of more than 100,000 lives.

The VHEC recognizes this proclamation as honouring the historic legacy of Vrba and his continued relevance today as a man who devoted his life to the power of the individual to seek justice. Remembering Vrba is not only an act of historical necessity – it is a reminder of the moral courage ordinary individuals must summon, and of our shared responsibility to value and present the truth on behalf of humanity.

The VHEC is grateful to the City of Vancouver and Sim for making this proclamation. The centre also acknowledges the contributions of Vrba’s friends and supporters in Vancouver, including those who established a memorial monument to Vrba in Schara Tzedeck Cemetery. The proclamation was further supported by the efforts of Vrba Projects, a local group of volunteers – led by Geoffrey Druker, John Gruetzner and Glen Steinman – working to promote local, national and global recognition of Vrba. VHEC also thanks Robin Vrba, the widow of Vrba.

Vrba believed that history must be told without euphemism, distortion or sentimentality. He was a moral witness and a warrior for truth, guided by a strong internal code and a profound sense of personal responsibility. His memoir, I Escaped from Auschwitz, was first published in 1964 and remains one of the most important survivor accounts of the Holocaust.

In recent years, there has been renewed international recognition of Vrba’s legacy, including the publication of two major biographies: The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World by Jonathan Freedland, and Holocaust Hero: The Life and Times of Rudolf Vrba by Vancouver author and journalist Alan Twigg, who also curates the website rudolfvrba.com. (For more, also see jewishindependent.ca/new-bio-gives-vrba-his-due and jewishindependent.ca/vrba-monument-is-unveiled.)

The first English translations of the Vrba-Wetzler report, received by the US government in October 1944, are now preserved in the Records of the War Refugee Board at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library.

– Courtesy Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre

Vrba monument to be unveiled

photo - Rudolf Vrba, in the 1960s — Rudolf Vrba, in the 1960s. *(photo from University of British Columbia. Archives)*

Rudolf Vrba’s escape from Auschwitz and testimony helped alert the world to the horrors of the Holocaust, and Vrba is credited with saving the lives of more than 100,000 Hungarian Jews. On Oct. 26, 2 p.m., at Schara Tzedeck Cemetery Chapel in New Westminster, a commemoration ceremony will be held for Vrba. The program will feature reflections on his life, legacy and enduring impact from Dr. Robert Krell and Dr. Joseph Ragaz, and will conclude with the dedication of a memorial monument in Vrba’s honour.

New podcast launched

On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Jan. 27, the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre (VHEC) and the Walrus Lab launched The Hidden Holocaust Papers: Survival. Exile. Return. The six-part documentary podcast, hosted by best-selling Canadian author Timothy Taylor, offers a personal exploration of his family’s hidden Holocaust history.

Through the series, VHEC furthers its mission of Holocaust education and remembrance by supporting stories that bring the realities of the Holocaust to new audiences. Taylor’s journey of discovery is not only an act of personal reconciliation but also a vital contribution to preserving the memory of Holocaust victims and survivors for future generations.

As Taylor unpacks long-forgotten family archives, the series takes listeners on an emotional journey from his home in Vancouver to Germany, revealing a tapestry of stories about survival, resilience and loss. Alongside his search for answers, Taylor reflects on the universal lessons of justice, remembrance and identity in the face of historical atrocities.

“The Holocaust isn’t just a chapter in history – it’s a call to action to remember, educate and prevent future acts of hatred and genocide,” said Hannah Marazzi, acting executive director of VHEC. “We are honoured to work with Timothy Taylor to amplify his family’s story and underscore the importance of safeguarding these narratives.”

In conjunction with the podcast, Taylor’s accompanying feature article, “Paper Trail,” will be published in The Walrus in May; it was made available online on Jan. 27. The article is an account of Taylor’s journey to instal Stolpersteine memorial stones for his family members who suffered under Nazi persecution.

For more information and to listen to the trailer, visit lnkfi.re/thehiddenholocaustpapers.

– Courtesy Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre

Fielder gives to VHEC

Vancouver-born writer and comedian Nathan Fielder has donated more than $150,000 US to the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre (VHEC). The funds represent the profits of the Summit Ice outdoor apparel line, founded by Fielder to raise awareness of the Holocaust and to support the education and remembrance mandate of the VHEC.

“We are honoured to be the recipient agency for Nathan Fielder’s Summit Ice initiative,” said Nina Krieger, executive director of the VHEC. “It is especially meaningful that Nathan appreciates the work our centre does to advance anti-racism education in his hometown.”

This significant contribution will help the VHEC deliver more programs to more people at a time when the centre’s work is as relevant as ever. This gift will strengthen the VHEC’s outreach programs, educational resources and exhibitions that engage students, teachers and the general public in British Columbia and beyond.

“We receive countless letters from students affirming that participating in a VHEC program, particularly when this features a Holocaust survivor speaker, is among the most meaningful and memorable experience of their school years,” said Phil Levinson, president of the VHEC board. “Nathan Fielder’s generosity will help advance the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre’s vision of a world free of antisemitism, discrimination and genocide, with social justice and human rights for all.”

The VHEC relies on the support of members of the community to fund education and remembrance programs.

Mourning Elie Wiesel

Dr. Elie Wiesel was motivated by his experience as a survivor of the Holocaust to become one of the world’s foremost advocates for social justice and human rights. He was also a friend to members of the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre community and we mourn his passing. In his writing and his activism, he gave voice to the experiences of survivors but, as he acknowledged, also saw it as his responsibility to represent those who did not survive.

Wiesel and Robbie Waisman, a past president of the VHEC, were among the 426 “Boys of Buchenwald” liberated on April 11, 1945, and began their post-Shoah lives together at a facility in France.

“We had a common bond,” Waisman said. “On the 11th of April, I usually go into my office and call some of the boys. Elie was part of it. There’s so much that I shared with him.

“The world lost an irreplaceable human being.”

Dr. Robert Krell – recipient of the Elie Wiesel Holocaust Remembrance Medal for his work in Holocaust education, psychiatric contributions to the care of Holocaust survivors, and his role as founding president of the VHEC, which Wiesel visited – became friends with Wiesel over several decades.

“He was the kindest, gentlest, wisest person in my life,” said Krell. “And he always made time for me, although he was also the busiest and most prevailed upon person imaginable.”

Wiesel once said: “There is much to be done, there is much that can be done.” And the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre commits to continuing the work that defined his life’s mission.

The VHEC will honor the life and work of Elie Wiesel during our annual High Holidays Cemetery Service. The commemoration will take place at 11 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 9, at Schara Tzedeck Cemetery, 2345 Marine Dr., New Westminster. Everyone is welcome.

The service, held annually on the Sunday between the High Holidays, affords participants the opportunity to mourn those who perished during the Holocaust at this symbolic gravesite.