VHEC

A childhood spent on the run

Survivor Miriam Dattel, right, with the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre’s Ellie Lawson at the Yom Hashoah commemoration April 23. (screenshot)

Miriam Dattel was born Branka Friedman, in September 1940, in the Croatian city of Zagreb, then part of Yugoslavia. She was about six months old when the Nazis invaded and her family began a life in hiding. Fleeing ahead of the Nazis and their collaborators, the family survived together through a series of close calls, lifesaving tips from compassionate officials, luck, determination and exhausting treks through the wilderness in search of refuge.

Dattel shared her family’s story at the annual Yom Hashoah commemoration at Temple Sholom on April 23.

Upon invading Yugoslavia in April 1941, the Nazis, aided by their Croatian fascist Ustaše collaborators, immediately instituted the Nuremberg Laws and set up the first concentration camps in Yugoslavia. Dattel’s father and uncle were thrown out of the university and all Jews were forced to don the yellow star – including on young Branka/Miriam’s baby carriage.

The family was set to flee to Budapest, where they believed they would find refuge with family. When the day came, the baby Branka was ill, so her grandmother, Irma Stern, was sent on ahead. It was the last time the family saw her.

In her haste, the grandmother left behind her prayer book, which was her ubiquitous companion. Branka’s mother viewed the holy book as a fortuitous omen that all would be well in the end. At the commemoration last month, Dattel held the prayer book, now more than a century old and suffering the inevitable evidence of time.

Eventually, the family fled – but not to Hungary. Branca/Miriam, her parents, Andor and Margita Friedman, and her aunt and uncle, Lili and Fritz, were transported with the help of a friend of her uncle’s southwest to the Croatian city of Split on the Adriatic coast. Sections of the city were controlled by the Italian fascists and others by the Croatian regime.

One day, her father was tipped off by a high-ranking Italian officer that the Croatians were preparing to deport Jews from the areas of Split they controlled. He returned home in the middle of the night and evacuated the family to the Italian side. Eventually, the family’s race against fate continued, with a journey under false identities by ship to northern Italy.

“In 1943, when eventually Mussolini was finished, the Germans took over,” Dattel said in a video at the ceremony. Again, her father was tipped off by an Italian official, who warned him to disappear.

“From then on, from what I saw in my father’s diary, we went through 18 different hiding places,” she said, noting assistance from underground operatives.

As a child forced to race from one place to another, few distinct memories remain. However, in various barns where they took refuge, people would roast chestnuts and that remains an evocative taste-memory for her.

Ovaltine is another. And it is a flavour from the very moment that may have saved the life of Miriam and her family.

The group – now six with the addition of her newborn cousin Gerardo – had made their way through northern Italy, around Lake Como and toward the Swiss border. After walking for hours, crossing under fences and trudging through difficult terrain, they came to the frontier of Switzerland.

“There were two Swiss border guards there,” said Dattel. “They said the border is closed. And my father said, impossible, you are not going to let two kids be killed. My recollection is this Swiss soldier [with] a German Shepherd coming towards me, lifting me up and carrying me to the station, to the border house.”

There, the guard gave her Ovaltine and, while she has tried to recreate the flavour, it has never tasted the same.

The family members were placed in refugee camps, Miriam separated from her parents. In Switzerland, the family lived out the war, returning to Zagreb afterward before Miriam and her parents made their way to Israel.

About 1.5 million Jewish children were murdered in the Holocaust. Miriam was one of an estimated six to 11% who survived. In addition to the video screened at the event, Dattel spoke on stage with Ellie Lawson, the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre’s education manager.

Claire Sicherman, a granddaughter of survivors, was the third-generation descendent speaker. She spoke of being consumed by grief in early life and growing up in a family filled with silences. (Sicherman shared her story of trauma and recovery earlier this year. See jewishindependent.ca/healing-trauma-possible.)

Hannah Marazzi, acting executive director of the VHEC, noted that this year marks the 82nd anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, a symbol of defiance in the face of annihilation. In addition to remembering the millions of lives lost and the resilience of survivors, she said, “We remember the young Jewish fighters who rose up against the Nazis and whose courage continues to inspire us to stand against oppression in all of its forms.”

Rabbi Carey Brown, associate rabbi of Temple Sholom, welcomed attendees to the synagogue and reflected on the past’s lessons for the present.

Dr. Abby Wener Herlin, associate director of programs and community relations for the VHEC and a member of the third generation, introduced survivors, who lit candles of remembrance.

Cantor Shani Cohen chanted El Moleh Rachamim, the memorial prayer for the martyrs.

Wendy Bross Stuart was responsible for musical direction and arrangement, and played piano. Eric Wilson played cello. Cantor Michael Zoosman, Erin Aberle-Palm, Matthew Mintsis and Lorenzo Tesler-Mabe sang.

As is traditional, the annual ceremony ended with the singing of “Zog Nit Keynmol,” “The Partisan Song.”

Healing trauma possible

Claire Sicherman read from her book Imprint, about intergenerational trauma, at UBC Hillel on Jan. 21. (photo by Pat Johnson)

Understanding of intergenerational trauma has expanded in recent decades. Two granddaughters of Holocaust survivors discussed the larger phenomenon and their personal experiences recently at the University of British Columbia’s Hillel House, part of Hillel’s Holocaust Awareness Week.

Claire Sicherman, author, workshop facilitator and trauma-informed somatic writing coach, shared her experiences and read from her book, Imprint: A Memoir of Trauma in the Third Generation, which was published in 2017. She was in conversation with Dr. Abby Wener Herlin, associate director of programs and community relations at the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre, which co-sponsored the Jan. 21 event with Hillel BC.

Sicherman attributed to psychologist Dr. Arielle Schwartz the definition of intergenerational trauma as the ways in which the unresolved experiences of traumas, losses and griefs of one generation can become a legacy that is passed down to the next generation.

“In other words,” said Sicherman, “the experiences of my grandparents are passed down through my parents to me.”

In addition to the “nurture” component of family legacies, there is the “nature” component of epigenetics, which Sicherman described as “the study of how genes turn on and off in response to environmental change.”

“I’ve heard it talked about like it’s sort of like light switches switching on and off in the body,” she explained. “Whatever switches switched on for my grandparents would then be switched on, passed down to my parent, passed down to me.”

Experts in the field say it’s not a biological prison, Sicherman said. “They are actually malleable, so what you’re born with, you are not necessarily stuck with. We do have the ability to change certain things. There is hope in that.”

Growing up, Sicherman knew little or nothing about inherited trauma.

“When I started reading about it, I began to understand that what was going on with me wasn’t really my fault or that it wasn’t really something wrong with me,” she said. “It was just that I was carrying this huge thing.”

Reading excerpts from her book, Sicherman recounted being “disconnected from my body.” The inherited trauma manifested as a nervous system on overdrive and a tendency to hypervigilance. She was always ready to bolt out the door, looking for exit signs, aware of potential dangers, unable to fully rest, and prone to stress and anxiety.

She said that untold stories often pass more powerfully from generation to generation than stories that are recounted.

“When you think about that,” said Sicherman, “it’s what we don’t talk about that has more weight. It’s the silence. It’s the secrets.… That’s why it’s also important to me to speak out about these things, because it’s healing that goes across generations.”

Her survivor grandparents thought they were protecting their children through silence, Sicherman said. In response, the second generation learned not to ask questions.

There were other silences. In addition to the limited discussion around the Holocaust, Sicherman did not learn until well into her own adulthood that, when she was 4 years old, her grandfather had taken his own life, and not died of a heart attack, as she had been led to believe.

As someone who writes about and works with others on issues of healing intergenerational trauma, she urges people to embrace the totality of what they have inherited.

“Aside from trauma, what are the legacies that your ancestors bring to you?” she asked. “What are the gifts? What are the strengths? That’s also an important question to ask yourself, and a way of connecting with Jewish heritage. What are the strengths of your lineage? Is it survival? Is it tenacity? Is it humour? Is it creativity? Those are questions that you can ask yourself.”

Her son, Ben Sicherman, a UBC student, was present and also spoke of his family’s legacy of trauma. He described struggling with anxiety when he was younger and learning mechanisms for addressing issues through his parents’ modeling. He also spoke of carrying the legacy of his ancestors in ways like choosing 18 as his hockey number, not only because it represents chai, life, but because the numbers on his great-grandmother’s Auschwitz tattoo added up to the number 18.

Intergenerational trauma is a major component of her life’s work, said Sicherman.

“I do feel a sense of obligation, as a third generation,” she said. “But I also feel like this is part of my calling, too. It’s very meaningful. It’s an obligation that is not homework. It’s part of what I was set out to do.”

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

Krell families give to JWest

The Krell, Lewis, Kallner and Singerman families are excited their gift will help in the creation of an expanded Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre. (photo by Rachel Topham)

The JWest capital campaign cabinet is grateful to Dr. Robert and Marilyn Krell and their families, Shoshana and Shawn Lewis, Simone and Howard Kallner, and Michaela and Matthew Singerman, for supporting the redevelopment of the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver site. The individual gifts from each of the four couples reflect two generations equally committed to building a strong Jewish future in Vancouver.

The Krell family has deep roots in Vancouver. Marilyn’s Polish grandfather, David Davis, who arrived in 1909, was one of the founding members of Congregation Schara Tzedeck. Robert, born in Holland, was hidden during the Holocaust and, after reuniting with his parents, arrived in Vancouver at age 10, in 1951. Both Robert and Marilyn were influenced by their parents’ involvement in the synagogue and a variety of Jewish organizations.

“Vancouver is where I became a Jew,” said Robert, who participated in Habonim as a child and became actively involved with the Canadian Jewish Congress as an adult. In 1971, he and Marilyn were married by Rabbi Marvin Hier, who was Schara Tzedek’s rabbi at the time. The couple raised their three daughters, Shoshana, Simone and Michaela, in a traditional Jewish home where Shabbat was always celebrated. The Jewish values that began at home were reinforced at Vancouver Talmud Torah, Camp Hatikvah and at the JCC.

Robert, a founder of the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre (VHEC), mobilized the survivor community from a concept in 1983 to a reality in 1994, when the centre opened as a museum and educational institute that ignited Shoah learning in British Columbia and beyond. The Krell daughters grew up witnessing the VHEC board meetings in their living room and attending award ceremonies that recognized their parents’ contributions to a variety of Jewish organizations.

“Through their actions and deeds, they taught us that you give when you can and volunteer when you can,” Simone said.

Now with children of their own attending local Jewish institutions, the Lewis, Kallner and Singerman families have assumed leadership roles in the VHEC, VTT, Schara Tzedeck, Jewish Family Services, Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver and the Jewish Community Foundation. As they saw their parents’ commitment to support JWest, they knew they were also ready to answer the call to help build a new infrastructure to support the future of the region’s Jewish community.

“We are excited to contribute to such an important and pivotal project that will be utilized and cherished not just by future generations of our Jewish community, but of the greater community as well,” said Michaela.

Her sisters expanded that idea by saying, “The JCC has played a role for five generations of our family and it shapes many of our fondest memories.”

The family is excited that their gift will also assist in the creation of an expanded Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre, an institute close to their hearts and lives. Founded with a mandate of Holocaust-based anti-racism education, the VHEC welcomes more than 25,000 students, educators and members of the public each year.

While it plays a crucial role in conveying the ongoing relevance of the Shoah, this teaching museum has long been challenged by a small footprint and its limited visibility in the lower level of the JCC. JWest will protect the legacy of the VHEC by significantly increasing its square footage and visibility. The new VHEC will be visible from West 41st Avenue and will feature state-of-the-art exhibit space for permanent and rotating exhibits. It will also have dedicated research and programming space to facilitate workshops that enhance learning and engagement. Its prominent location in the JWest campus’s Arts & Culture Centre will ensure that the VHEC remains a vital presence in the community well into the future.

“The VHEC was at the forefront of our upbringing and experience and it’s a highlight to see it being incorporated as an important component of JWest,” Simone said.

Shoshana echoed those sentiments. “It’s exciting to envision the future JCC as a hub that will encompass so many important institutions,” she said. “We want a safe space to house our next generation of Jewish institutions, so there’s an urgency for us to support this project as a commitment to the future of our children, our grandchildren and the community at large.”

Alex Cristall, chair of the JWest capital campaign, had this response to the gift: “With five generations of active involvement in Vancouver’s Jewish community, the Krell, Davis, Kallner, Lewis and Singerman families continue to demonstrate the depth of their commitment through their gifts and volunteerism. Their generous gifts to JWest will secure and revitalize our Jewish institutions and we are deeply grateful for their support of this project.”

As one of the largest capital projects underway in Vancouver, JWest is only possible with the support of donors and the encouragement of the community. In the coming months, the JWest capital campaign cabinet will continue to update and advise community members on the campaign’s progress and on opportunities to contribute to its philanthropic goal of $161 million.

For a full list of JWest donors, visit jwestnow.com.

– Courtesy Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver

Children in the Shoah

Left to right: Abby Wener Herlin, Lise Kirchner, Dr. Nataliia Ivchyk, Prof. Richard Menkis and Al Szajman at the community commemoration of Kristallnacht Nov. 7. (photo by Rhonda Dent)

The experiences of three Vancouver women who survived the Holocaust as children in Ukraine were highlighted at the community commemoration of Kristallnacht Nov. 7.

The event, which took place at and was co-presented by Congregation Beth Israel, marked both the 86th anniversary of the Kristallnacht pogrom and the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre (VHEC), which presents the annual commemoration. The Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver and the Robert and Marilyn Krell Endowment at the VHEC were co-presenters.

The keynote address was by Dr. Nataliia Ivchyk, associate professor in the department of political science at Rivne State University for the Humanities, in Ukraine. Ivchyk is a visiting scholar at the University of British Columbia and has been studying the narratives of child survivors in the province.

About 1.5 million Ukrainian Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, while another million managed to flee before or near the beginning of the German-Soviet war, Ivchyk said.

“Genocide is ruthless, regardless of age or gender, and children are a special group of its victims,” she said. “Since children cannot fight back against their killers, they become a helpless and vulnerable group. The Holocaust claimed six million Jewish lives, 1.5 million of which were tragically children. Age became a vital marker of life or quick death for children during World War II and the Holocaust. Children were not seen as a separate group of victims, they were dependent on their parents, fathers, mothers and relatives, and so suffered and died with them too.”

Ivchyk quoted Malka Pischanitskaya, who was 10 years old when the Germans invaded her town of Romanov (now Romaniv), in Ukraine.

“I was brought into this world not by chance but I believe by destiny,” Pischanitskaya has said. “My destiny was to be born, to endure the sufferings that were yet to come.”

“During the genocide,” Ivchyk said, “Malka had no choice but to become an adult in order to survive.”

Another local survivor whose story Ivchyk told is Ilana, who asked that her last name not be shared. Ilana was born in 1938, just two years before Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Her father managed to evacuate the family, including Ilana, her sister, her mother and her maternal grandparents, to a Central Asian republic of the Soviet Union.

“Unfortunately, my father’s parents stayed in Kyiv and perished in Babyn Yar,” Ivchyk quoted Ilana, referring to the mass killing site that has become synonymous with the genocide in Ukraine. On Sept. 29 and 30, 1941, more than 33,000 Ukrainian Jews were killed, part of the genocide in eastern Europe known as the “Holocaust by bullets.”

Ilana has only fragmentary memories of the evacuation years. However, she remembered her sister, who cared for her, and her mother, who tirelessly worked to provide food, said Ivchyk.

A third local woman who survived is Esfira Golgheri.

“Esfira does not recall the journey from one ghetto to another, but she remembers her mother feeding her, which was crucial for her survival as an infant,” Ivchyk said.

“There is something that the Holocaust could not take away: memory, personal memories and stories of relatives and friends and our collective memory [that] remind us by honouring the memory of those who are no longer with us. Those who lost their lives and those who fought to defend us, we keep them alive in our hearts,” Ivchyk said. “The stories of these women are stories of childhood, family and survival in the face of genocide and displacement. Each narrative is unique and personal, yet the memories of Esfira, Malka and Ilana … are like pieces of a puzzle that help reconstruct this tragedy. In addition to piecing together the events of the war in Ukraine during the Holocaust, we have the chance to understand the tragedy through the eyes of these adult child survivors. We can touch their memories and experience their truth for ourselves.”

At the commemoration, Taleeb Noormohamed, member of Parliament for Vancouver Granville, brought greetings from the federal government.

“The fight against antisemitism is not one for Jews alone,” said Noormohamed. “Quite the opposite. It is a fight that all of us have to take on together.”

Nina Krieger, until recently the executive director of the VHEC and elected as member of the BC Legislature on Oct. 19, brought greetings from the provincial government.

“I know the premier of British Columbia and my colleagues in government join me in gratitude for the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre and Congregation Beth Israel for presenting this evening’s program to mark the 86th anniversary of Kristallnacht,” Krieger said.

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim, accompanied by Councilor Lenny Zhou, presented a proclamation from the city marking Kristallnacht Commemoration Day.

Sim spoke of how his home had been recently vandalized and how many people at that evening’s event had expressed sympathy.

“The Jewish community sees this all the time and I should really be asking you how you are doing,” he said. “I obviously loved the community before, but you’ve captured my heart even more.”

He said his presence at Jewish community events is not about politics.

“If everyone was against us, we would still have your back. We are still here because we stand for what’s right,” Sim said.

Lise Kirchner, director of education at the Vancouver Holocaust Education Center, spoke on behalf of acting executive director Hannah Marazzi, who was out of the province, read greetings from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and acknowledged elected officials from all levels of government, including incoming and outgoing members of the BC Legislature.

“As we come together this evening to commemorate the 86th anniversary of the Kristallnacht pogrom, we contemplate the dangers not only of state-instituted persecution and violence, but maybe more importantly the dangers of indifference,” said Kirchner. “We are reminded of the consequences of antisemitism which is not publicly condemned, especially at a time when we have seen the proliferation of this most pervasive and pernicious form of hatred around the world, across the country and in our own backyards.”

Prof. Richard Menkis, associate professor of Jewish history at the University of British Columbia, contextualized Kristallnacht as a turning point between the legislated antisemitism of the Nazi regime, notably the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, and the murderous violence of the Holocaust.

“The persecutions during and immediately after Kristallnacht resulted in the deaths of at least 90 Jews, the destruction of hundreds of synagogues, the vandalization of thousands of Jewish businesses and the imprisonment of over 30,000 Jewish men in concentration camps and elsewhere,” said Menkis.

Al Szajman, president of the Vancouver Holocaust Centre Society board, emceed the evening. Abby Wener Herlin, associate director of programs and community relations at the VHEC and granddaughter of survivors, introduced Ivchyk. Rabbi Jonathan Infeld thanked Ivchyk and reflected on her remarks. Cantor Yaacov Orzech chanted El Moleh Rachamim. Holocaust survivors lit candles at the beginning of the commemorative event.

Ivchyk spoke movingly of being welcomed into the community during her time in Vancouver.

“Coming from a wartorn country myself, you accepted me, understood me, opened the doors of your community and your homes, creating an incredibly warm and family-like environment that gave me a home away from home,” she said. “You have entrusted me with your history and the history of your families and your childhood experiences that you have kept in silence for many years. Every time you shared your stories, I could feel the sadness and pain in your eyes. You still feel for those who were taken by the Holocaust.”

Community milestones … Cowens, Federation, Doctor, Lane, Wolthuizen & Wosk

Rabbi Dr. Eytan Cowen, his wife Rabbanit Caroline Sarah Bitton-Cowen and their family will take up the mantle of spiritual and rabbinic leadership at Congregation Beth Hamidrash. (photo from Beth Hamidrash)

Rabbi Dr. Eytan Cowen has agreed to become the next rabbi and spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Hamidrash and leader of the Vancouver Sephardi community.

The congregation is excited for Rabbi Cowen, his wife Rabbanit Caroline Sarah Bitton-Cowen and their family to join them and take up the mantle of spiritual and rabbinic leadership. The start date is yet to be determined, to best enable the family to navigate the challenges of moving to Vancouver from Toronto.

Cowen served as rabbi of Tiferet Israel Sephardic Congregation in Toronto from 2014 to 2017. He returned to his hometown, Toronto, from Indianapolis, where he served for two years as full-time rabbi of Etz Chaim Sephardic Congregation, a 100-year-old community.

Cowen pursued and completed his rabbinical studies at Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University and the Sephardic Rabbinical College of Rosh Kollel. In addition, he is a graduate of the University of Toronto with a double major in microbiology and Jewish studies, as well as four years of postgraduate study at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine. He is a licensed naturopathic doctor, practising integrative medicine for the past 20 years, and endeavours to combine Torah and health.

Bitton-Cowen was born in Paris, France, with Sephardi heritage from Morocco and Tunisia. She is a graduate of Stern College and Sy Syms School of Business. She enjoys teaching others, sharing wisdom with women of the congregation, and is an accomplished certified professional accountant.

The rabbi and rabbanit are the proud parents of Eliyahu-Yaacov (23), Nissim-Nahum (21), Simcha-Mazal (20), Rivkah-Chaya (16), Efrayim-Menashe (13), Tehila-Adelle (9), Batsheva-Esther (6) and Batya-Emunah (4). They have one granddaughter, Sofia Adina (14 months).

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photo - Alexis Doctor received her master of arts in Jewish professional studies at Spertus Institute — Alexis Doctor received her master of arts in Jewish professional studies at Spertus Institute. *(photo by Maggie Russo)*

On May 5, Chicago-based Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership awarded master’s degrees to 18 graduates who embody the vital Jewish tradition of learning, which grounds us in our history and equips us to face contemporary challenges.

Vancouver resident Alexis Doctor, director of member and guest services at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, is among this year’s graduates. She received a master of arts in Jewish professional studies, completing a creative leadership-building program designed to advance careers and strengthen the organizations students serve.

“It’s something I will take with me for the rest of my life – the program has given me fresh new ideas to take back to my team,” said Doctor. “This has been one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done, but it’s also one of the most rewarding.”

Spertus Institute, which was founded in 1924, is an institution of higher Jewish learning dedicated to real-world action. At its core are degree and certificate programs in which students engage with Jewish ideas in the service of personal growth, community leadership and professional advancement. These offerings, which merge theory and practice, educate Jewish professionals, community leaders and those who seek quality, reflection-driven scholarship. Those interested in becoming a future Spertus Institute graduate should visit spertus.edu for program and application information or contact assistant director of recruitment Amie Barrish at [email protected].

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The Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver’s 2023 annual campaign generated $10.3 million for the community, thanks to the generosity of some 2,500 donors.

As a result of this year’s $10.3 million total, Federation will be able to provide crucial stability to its more than 30 partner organizations by ensuring that they can count on funding that helps fuel their important front-line work. Plus, they will be able to access additional funding through grants for programs and services that deliver on the strategic priorities for the community.

An additional $1.25 million in funding directed to special projects was also raised, as was $20.4 million through Federation’s Israel Emergency Campaign (IEC).

In addition to addressing immediate needs after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, the IEC allocation committee, chaired by Stephen Gaerber, is committed to addressing the medium- and long-term needs of Israelis who continue to be affected by the ongoing war and hostage situation.

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The Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre has presented the 2024 Meyer and Gita Kron and Ruth Kron Sigal Award for Excellence in Holocaust Education to Ben Lane (Collingwood School) and Mike Wolthuizen (Rutland Senior Secondary School). Both have demonstrated exceptional commitment to Holocaust education throughout their careers and have significantly impacted their students, colleagues and school communities.

The Kron Sigal Award was established in memory of Meyer and Gita Kron and their daughter Ruth Kron Sigal, Lithuanian Jewish survivors of the Holocaust who re-established their lives in Vancouver. Through their lifelong involvement with education and community, the family touched the lives of thousands of students.

photo - Ben Lane — Ben Lane *(photo from vhec.org)*

During his tenure at Collingwood School in West Vancouver, Lane led the development of a comprehensive Holocaust education program at the school. He created classroom resources and lesson plans and implemented school-wide events, commemorative programming and co-curricular opportunities for students, colleagues and the community to engage with the history of the Holocaust.

An alumnus of Yad Vashem’s International School for Holocaust Studies, Lane’s approach to Holocaust education demonstrates creativity, depth of knowledge in subject matter and pedagogical quality. This is reflected in his bespoke lesson plans and robust teaching materials, which combine engaging history lessons with innovative project-based learning. These allow students to navigate complex issues of antisemitism, genocide and the legacies of the Holocaust with accuracy, sensitivity and a sense of responsibility for the subject matter.

Exposing students to primary sources of Holocaust history has been a priority for Lane, and he regularly incorporates VHEC programs into his curriculum through exhibition tours, workshops and survivor outreach speaker engagements. As well, he has facilitated a co-curricular student group to participate in the Dora Love Prize, a Holocaust education program sponsored by the University of Essex. For the past three years, this student group has engaged with scholars and survivors internationally and produced innovative projects annually to raise awareness of the Holocaust and human rights.

photo - Mike Wolthuizen — Mike Wolthuizen *(photo from vhec.org)*

Wolthuizen teaches Genocide Studies 12 and Social Studies 10 at Rutland Senior Secondary School in Kelowna. He has been instrumental in advancing Holocaust education in the Central Okanagan School District, where he recently co-developed Holocaust 12: Beyond the Shoah, a social studies elective course to be introduced into classrooms in September 2024.

Colleagues, administrators and students attest to Wolthuizen’s thoughtful and innovative teaching approach, which creates a supportive environment for students to express their thoughts and critically analyze events in Holocaust history. He fosters meaningful discussions and ethical reflections on human choices. Through exposure to survivor testimony and primary sources, he cultivates in his students an appreciation for the stories of the individual. One student shared:

“Because of his teaching, one of my key takeaways from the course was the importance of the stories of individuals that were impacted by the Holocaust and other genocides, rather than just statistics. When learning from him, it became very evident that he cares so much about each individual and their rights, and that their stories hold an immense amount of power and importance when discussing the Holocaust.”

Also an alumnus of Yad Vashem’s International School, Wolthuizen has attended dozens of workshops and conferences, locally and internationally, to enhance his knowledge of Holocaust study. He has shared this knowledge and expertise beyond his own community, leading professional development programs and teaching in multiple school districts as a guest lecturer on Holocaust history.

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photo - Becky Wosk is the winner of the 2024 Earl Parker Award for Jewish Film, an honour given by the Edmonton Jewish Film Festival — Becky Wosk is the winner of the 2024 Earl Parker Award for Jewish Film, an honour given by the Edmonton Jewish Film Festival. *(photo from Becky Wosk)*

Becky Wosk is the recipient of the Edmonton Jewish Film Festival’s 2024 Earl Parker Award for Jewish Film. The $1,500 award will go towards Wosk’s production of a documentary on Jewish identity and how we are all connected.

Wosk is a directing student at Langara College in the film arts program. She has been immersed in the arts since a very young age and is a multidisciplinary artist and performer – her band Hollow Twin recently released a new LP on vinyl and digitally.

Wanting to gain more technical skills and hands-on experience in directing, to make music videos for her and other bands, as well as documentaries and shorts, Wosk applied to the Langara film program. It was her instructor who sent her the application to the Earl Parker award for a Jewish-related film project. Wosk’s pitch was One Thread.

One Thread is a documentary-style short that will be filmed in Vancouver. Interviewees will range from age 18 to 99+, including Holocaust survivors.

“I see this potentially becoming a series that can eventually be all tied together spanning globally to see how, regardless of where we live, our backgrounds, we are one people – a tribe of resilient humans who have overcome all odds to be here today. A look at the diversity of the diaspora and how we all have one common thread,” wrote Wosk in her submission. “The participants will not be limited by religious sect, as I want the overarching theme to be our DNA, not necessarily religion – but I would like to touch on customs and traditions within the interviews.”

Wosk is hoping to incorporate klezmer music and archival photos from various sources into the film. She will be putting a call out soon for interviewees of all ages, genders and backgrounds who identify as Jewish. The filming will take place this fall.

Victoria’s Walk to Remember

On May 25, members of the Rwandan community in Victoria held a Walk to Remember, in memory of the victims and in solidarity with the survivors of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. (photo from Victoria Rwandan community)

This spring, members of the Rwandan community in British Columbia have been commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. On May 25, a group in Victoria held the Walk to Remember in memory of the victims and in solidarity with the survivors of the 1994 genocide, also known as the genocide against the Tutsi.

Afterwards, a ceremony was held at Camosun College’s Gibson Auditorium. Throughout the event, called Kwibuka30, speaker after speaker, most of whom told their stories in Kinyarwanda, the national language of Rwanda, recalled members of their immediate families who were killed during that horrific period. (Kwibuka is the word for “remember” in Kinyarwanda.)

In the organizers’ words, the event was intended to offer “blessings for continued courage and resilience to remember and unite,” and express their desire to “renew our resolve to pursue the transformation of tragedy into triumph.”

Anselme Hategekimana, one of the leaders of the Rwandan community in Victoria, stressed the importance of remembering. “Remembering is an expression of an enduring love for those we’ve lost during the genocide against the Tutsi. Remembering makes us better citizens, as we do everything we can to combat hate speech, exclusion and any type of discrimination.”

Among those in attendance were the children – many of whom are now in their late teens and early 20s – of Rwandan genocide survivors. Hategekimana said he and other survivors were encouraged to see young people take leadership in the march and commemoration.

“Due to social media, young people are now more informed and can understand the consequences of bad governance and intolerance,” he said. “These young people are the leaders of tomorrow, and we are pleased to see more and more engaged young people for the cause of peace and understanding.”

From April 7 to July 19, 1994, Hutu militias in Rwanda killed members of the Tutsi minority. Hundreds of thousands of people were massacred – estimates vary from 500,000 to more than one million – in a 100-day period, which also included the killing of moderate Hutus and members of the Twa population.

The killings were preceded by decades of stigmatization, marginalization and dehumanization and fueled by hate speech. By the early 1990s, Rwanda’s population was 85% Hutu and 14% Tutsi. At the time, Hutu extremists within Rwanda’s governing elite blamed the Tutsis for the country’s social and economic problems.

In October 1990, civil war broke out when a Tutsi rebel group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front, invaded the country from Uganda. Extremist Hutus held the Tutsis in Rwanda responsible for supporting rebel forces from another country.

The civil war, which ended with the signing of a peace agreement in August 1993, did not appease the anger of extremist Hutus, who took to the airwaves to dehumanize the Tutsis further, referring to them as “cockroaches.”

In April 1994, a plane carrying Rwanda’s president, Juvénal Habyarimana, a Hutu, was shot down by a missile as it tried to land in Kigali, the country’s capital. Though it is unknown which group fired the missile, extremist Hutus used the downing of the plane as a reason to massacre Tutsis. Militias, equipped with machetes and trained by the Rwandan government, launched a killing spree – which to this day still shocks because of its rapidity and size – taking the lives of thousands of people each day.

Though some schools in British Columbia cover the Rwandan genocide, Hategekimana believes it would be beneficial to incorporate the subject in the high school curriculum to educate youth to be more tolerant and learn from the tragedy.

“Having a memorial monument dedicated to the victims of the genocide against the Tutsi will also help educate more Canadians,” he said.

Thirty years later, Rwanda, geographically one of the smallest countries in Africa, stands out as a model of prosperity, with one of the fastest-growing economies on the continent. A post-genocide government pursued a policy of “unity and reconciliation” and maintained a focus on economic growth.

As Hategekimana sees it, Rwanda had hit its lowest conceivable point and the only choice was to rebuild and rise. He credits Paul Kagame, the president of Rwanda since 2000, for being a visionary leader who came at a crucial time.

“Paul Kagame has been God-given. You may like him or not, but what he has done for Rwanda is indisputable: the empowerment of women, free health care, anti-corruption measures, peace and economic prosperity. Rwandans see themselves as capable citizens able to take their future in their own hands,” Hategekimana said.

Today, tourism in the country is booming, including luxury hotels, and the #visitrwanda hashtag even appears on the jersey of English soccer powerhouse Arsenal. Kigali boasts a new convention centre and a new stadium to host professional basketball games.

Tech startups have also abounded, as has collaboration with Israeli companies. Netafim, a Tel Aviv-based precision irrigation firm, has teamed with the Rwandan government to develop farming in land that was previously unsuitable for agriculture. In 2014, Israel’s Energiya Global invested in a solar power plant project in Rwanda.

Regarding the horrors of 1994, Nina Krieger, the executive director of the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre (VHEC), offered these words to the Independent, “As we mark the 30th anniversary of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, we reflect on the significance of bearing witness to atrocities and the enduring power of survivor testimony.

“At the VHEC, we understand the critical role these narratives play in educating future generations and preventing such horrors from reoccurring. The resilience and courage shown by the survivors of the Rwandan genocide inspire us to continue our mission of Holocaust education, underscoring the universal necessity of compassion, remembrance and the commitment to justice.”

In the 2022 commemoration of Kristallnacht presented by the VHEC at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, keynote speaker Liliane Pari Umuhoza, a child survivor of the Rwandan genocide, told the crowd it was important to remember what happened, to preserve the memories of victims and survivors for future generations.

Umuhoza added it was crucial to learn from history and create awareness. Yet, she continued, it was not enough.

“What matters the most is how we use that history to create a better world,” she said. “It’s our duty, not only to remember but also to remember with purpose.”

Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.

Danish rescue at 80

At the Nov. 9 Kristallnacht commemorative event, left to right: Dr. Janus Møller Jensen, Nina Krieger, Prof. Chris Friedrichs and Abby Wener Herlin. (photo by Rhonda Dent)

The rescue of Danish Jews during the Holocaust – an operation that mobilized almost the entire strata of Denmark’s population – is one of the bright lights in the history of that dark era. That extraordinary event, which took place 80 years ago last month, is one of the reasons Denmark had one of the highest survival rates of any country during the Shoah. Even this uplifting story, though, has its “shadows,” according to an expert who spoke in Vancouver Nov. 9.

Dr. Janus Møller Jensen, an historian and director of the Danish Jewish Museum, was the keynote speaker at the annual community-wide Kristallnacht Commemoration, presented by the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre and held at Beth Israel Synagogue.

Denmark has an unusual history in the context of Nazi occupation. After the Nazis invaded the country with minimal opposition, in April 1940, politicians and the king, Christian X, surrendered, but managed to negotiate terms that allowed the Danish democratic system of government to continue in a so-called “peace occupation.” Importantly, one of the Danish demands was that no Dane be singled out according to their race or faith, said Møller Jensen.

This status quo fell apart in 1943, after a series of strikes and uprisings around the country. Amid the Nazi crackdown came rumours at the end of September that an action against Danish Jews was imminent. At the same time, word spread that Sweden was prepared to accept Danish Jews as refugees. A mobilization of fishing boats began – as did the Nazi mobilization – in early October. Up and down the coast of Denmark, small and larger boats carried their cargo of Jewish Danes across the straight to neutral Sweden. In all, an estimated 7,220 Jews and 686 non-Jewish spouses were transported. Of all Danish Jews, 472 were captured by the Nazis and transported to Theresienstadt, in present-day Chechia, a waystation to the extermination camps. Of these, all but 53 survived the war, in part because the Danish government persuaded the Nazis to allow food and medicine packages to be delivered to the Danish inmates.

Another stunning reality was that, when the Danish Jews who survived – estimates of survival range from 95% to 99% – returned to Denmark, almost all found their homes and possessions intact – a stark difference from what Jews elsewhere in Europe discovered if they returned to their places or origin.

Not all of Danish history is so bright for Jews, said Møller Jensen. A long history of Catholic and Lutheran theological antisemitism permeates Denmark, and immigration policies before the Second World War prevented many Jews from elsewhere from reaching refuge.

“We have letters of refusal in our collection, of people who we know later died in the camps,” said Møller Jensen.

In addition, Danish companies and agricultural producers provided materials to the German war effort, although this was required of all occupied countries, he noted.

Not all rescuers acted on altruistic motives, either, Møller Jensen added. Some fishers took money to transport Danish Jews, but he also noted that, while hindsight suggests the Nazi occupiers turned something of a blind eye to the rescue operation, those involved at the time did not know this and would likely have assumed they were risking their lives.

photo - BC Premier David Eby spoke at the Kristallnacht event — BC Premier David Eby spoke at the Kristallnacht event. *(photo by Rhonda Dent)*

In addition to the hands-on rescue, Danish society rose up against the Nazis’ action. “Organizations from the entire strata of society – doctors, professors, students, lawyers, industries, working unions – protested,” he said. “The Danish church promulgated a so-called ‘Shepherd’s Letter’ to be read aloud in all of the churches in Denmark the following Sunday, stating that this was an unchristian act, that all people were the same in the eyes of God and that this was wrong and the congregation should assist and protect their fellow human beings…. One of the priests remembered, having read the letter aloud, that the entire congregation spontaneously rose to its feet and shouted ‘Yes!’”

Beth Israel’s Rabbi Jonathan Infeld thanked Møller Jensen and reflected on his words.

“The Danish people,” he said, “did exactly the opposite of what happened in Poland. When the Jews came back to Poland, they were murdered and their property was stolen, and when the Jews came back to Denmark, dinner was waiting for them on their tables. That is righteousness.”

BC Premier David Eby spoke at the Kristallnacht event, saying he wanted to provide assurances that all parties in the Legislature are committed to ensuring that the Jewish community in British Columbia is protected from antisemitism and feels safe. He acknowledged the proximate anniversaries of Kristallnacht and Remembrance Day, and noted that his government had just announced that Holocaust education will become mandatory in the BC school system.

“The thing about remembering is you can’t remember something you’ve never learned, you can’t remember something you were never taught,” Eby told the audience. “I’m proud to stand with you, to support your community, to stand against antisemitism, to stand against Islamophobia, to stand against all forms of hate, for British Columbia to be a beacon of hope in the world of what is possible at a time when those who want to promote division and hate seem to be on the rise just about everywhere. We have lots to be proud of in this province and part of what I’m incredibly proud of is the strength of our Jewish community here and I’m very honoured to be with you here this evening.”

Before the keynote address, Prof. Chris Friedrichs, emeritus professor of history at the University of British Columbia, contextualized Kristallnacht and called the Danish rescue “the most spectacular episode of rescue in the entire history of the Shoah.”

The Kristallnacht gathering was presented in conjunction with Congregation Beth Israel and funded by the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, with support from the Robert and Marilyn Krell Endowment Fund of the VHEC. Møller Jensen’s visit was facilitated by Norman Gladstone and Birgit Westergaard.

Corinne Zimmerman, president of the board of the VHEC, introduced a procession of Holocaust survivors, who carried memorial candles. Nina Krieger, executive director of the VHEC, opened the event and read greetings from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Cantor Yaacov Orzech recited El Moleh Rachamim. Councilor Sarah Kirby-Yung read a proclamation from the City of Vancouver. Taleeb Noormohamad, member of Parliament for Vancouver Granville, sent video-recorded greetings from Ottawa. BC cabinet ministers Selina Robinson and George Heyman were in attendance, as was Michael Lee, member of the Legislative Assembly for Vancouver-Langara.

The event drew a record crowd, according to organizers, of 420 in-person attendees and an additional 120 watching via livestream, including groups at the Louis Brier Home and Hospital and the Weinberg Residence.

Reflecting back 80 years

At the community’s commemoration of Yom Hashoah, child survivor Janos Benisz spoke about his experiences during the Holocaust. (photo by Rhonda Dent)

Over the past year, Janos Benisz has watched the news of Ukrainian parents fleeing to Poland and elsewhere in Europe to find safety for their families. While “overjoyed” for the families finding refuge today, he cannot help but reflect back eight decades to his own family’s catastrophic history in that violence-ravaged region.

Benisz was born in the summer of 1938 in the Hungarian city of Esztergom. He is one of the very few children to survive the Nazi concentration camps and is now one of an even smaller number of survivors alive to share their stories of survival. He spoke April 17 at the annual Yom Hashoah Commemoration presented by the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre, on the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

Benisz lost his mother in 1943, when she was 38, after she went to hospital for a routine procedure but was, he said, murdered by a fascist there. His father remarried and his stepmother would prove a saviour for the boy.

The following year, the Nazis began rounding up Hungarian Jews and preparing to transport them to forced labour and death camps.

“Like a plague of locusts, the SS came marching into our city,” he recalled. “As they marched past our house, there was a great fear in our family. My father closed the windows and pulled the curtains down and his fear was passed on to me. The next day, we left our home and on the front of our white stucco home was a yellow Magen David. Within hours, an SS commander came to our house and put stickers on our valuables.”

His father took young Janos and his stepmother to relations who were Catholic. It was the last time he saw his father.

“Life was wonderful for six weeks until one of the neighbours reported us and informed that Jews were in this home,” said Benisz.

An SS officer accompanied by Hungarian Arrow Cross fascists knocked on the door and seized Janos and his stepmother, who were sent to the Strasshof concentration camp, in Austria. They remained there for eight or nine months, until liberated by Soviet forces. Benisz credits his stepmother’s determination for his survival.

“It was like a lioness protecting her cub,” he said. “She would go into the circle where the food was, or the slop was, with the big cup and she would always bring food to me. I would drink it and that sustained me.”

After liberation, Janos, 7, and his now-mother made their way back to Esztergom. The devastation was nearly total.

“I had many, many cousins and they all were massacred,” he said. “My mother’s family … it was like the earth had opened up and killed them all.”

The experiences left Janos’s stepmother mentally broken and Janos was placed in an orphanage.

“The only thing I remember is cod liver oil in the morning and brushing my teeth with about 10 or 15 guys beside me brushing their teeth as well,” he said. “After two-and-a-half years in the orphanage, somebody from the Joint [Distribution Committee] picked me up, took me to the train station. There were 14 or 15 other Jewish orphans there and they told us, ‘You’re going to America – North America.’”

The group first spent six months in France, where “they tried to educate us,” he said, but the young survivors were like “a bunch of wild animals.”

The group arrived in Halifax on Dec. 3, 1948. They were given hot soup and delicious sandwiches, as well as ice cream, of which Benisz said he must have eaten a gallon with his bare hands.

On the train across Canada, orphans disembarked at different cities and Benisz arrived in Winnipeg in the midst of a blizzard.

“My first Canadian Jewish home proved to be a disaster,” he said. “I was bounced around like a basketball between foster homes.… I was never part of the family. I was always an outsider.”

The terrors that followed him from Europe, which led to screaming in the night, did not make him a welcome addition to potential foster homes.

“Who wants to have a stranger’s scream waking [one] up every night?” he asked.

He was put in a reformatory for about six months before a Jewish welfare agency rescued him and found him suitable housing and got him caught up in his education.

At a young age, Benisz got a job as a copy boy at the Winnipeg Free Press. A life in the news business followed, especially covering sports, which he did at newspapers across Western Canada. An editor changed his byline from Janos Benisz to Jack Bennett, which became his professional designation.

Eventually, he arrived to a new job at a Vancouver daily just as the press launched what would become a year-long strike. Jack Diamond, the late Jewish businessman and philanthropist, gave Benisz a job. Years later, after a corporate buyout, Benisz had a $25,000 windfall and he and a partner opened a business in Gastown, “and, over the next 15, 18 years, we made a lot of money.”

He spoke of his gratitude for the community of survivors, especially the Child Survivors Group, based at the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre. For two decades, he has spoken to school groups and others about his Holocaust experiences.

“I speak on behalf of the six million who have no voice, that includes 1.5 million children who were murdered,” he said.

At the commemorative event, Rabbi Dan Moskovitz of Temple Sholom reflected on the longer, formal name of the day, which is Yom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laG’vurah, Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day. He emphasized the resistance and revolt inherent in both the name of the day and the fact that Yom Hashoah is marked annually on the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

“Our sacred purpose is so much more important, so much more vital, because the life-memory is fading. We gather here this evening at the twilight of an era. As the Survivors’ Declaration hauntingly observes, the age of the Holocaust survivors is drawing to a close. Before long, no one will be left to say, I was there, I saw, I remember what happened…. It is in this void that the deniers and the distortionists will come, they always do, as they have continually on every night and every day since even before the liberation of the camps, to say that this didn’t happen, that it wasn’t so bad or the relativism of comparing trauma to trauma.”

There is one significant difference between the contemporary generation and the generation of the 1930s, said the rabbi.

“That difference is that we have the experience that they didn’t have. We know it can happen because it did,” he said. “We know the antisemitism, if it is not confronted vigourously, forcefully and immediately defeated, can develop into monstrous dimensions. So, we don’t have the luxury or the privilege to say, let’s wait and see how things will develop, how this turns out.”

The VHEC’s Abby Wener Herlin, granddaughter of survivors Aurelia and David Gold, spoke as a representative of the third generation.

“In our family, in order to build a life and live each day, they could not speak about their experiences,” she recalled of her late grandparents. “In order to protect themselves and us from the atrocities and traumas of their past, they shared very little.

“There is a sense of weight that comes from being the grandchild of Holocaust survivors,” Wener Herlin continued, “to know that I am part of the last generation that will ever hear those stories firsthand. I feel it is my duty and responsibility to carry it forward and it is my duty to remember.”

In a video presentation, former Canadian justice minister Irwin Cotler discussed the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda, as well as the Holocaust, and said that what makes both historical instances so horrific are not just the horrors themselves but that both atrocities were preventable.

“Nobody could say that we did not know. We knew but we did not act,” said Cotler.

He addressed remarks specifically to survivors: “You have endured the worst of inhumanity, but somehow you found the resources of your own humanity, the ability to carry on, to build families and to make an enduring contribution to Canada and to the communities in which you settled.”

Corinne Zimmerman, board president of the VHEC, read from a statement Prime Minister Justin Trudeau released for Yom Hashoah and Moskovitz read a message from B.C. Premier David Eby. Sarah Kirby-Yung, Vancouver city councilor, read a proclamation from Mayor Ken Sim.

Cantor Yaacov Orzech chanted El Moleh Rachamim, the memorial prayer for the martyrs. An extensive musical program, produced by Wendy Bross Stuart and Ron Stuart, featured Bross Stuart on piano, Eric Wilson on cello, with Cantor Shani Cohen, Kat Palmer, Lisa Osipov Milton singing, as well as eight young voices collectively dubbed the Yom Hashoah Singers.

The evening was presented by the VHEC with the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver and Temple Sholom.

Witness to “longest hatred”

The Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre maintains significant holdings of Nazi and antisemitic propaganda that bears witness to centuries of anti-Jewish hatred. Acquired through the generosity of local historians and collectors – Peter N. Moogk, professor emeritus, history, University of British Columbia; Kit Krieger, Joseph Tan, Harrison and Hilary Brown, and others – the propaganda in the VHEC collection promoted antisemitic stereotypes, including Nazi ideology, in Europe and North America from 1770 to the postwar period. Although the content is offensive, these primary sources serve as an important historical record of the “longest hatred.”

The study of propaganda is critical to Holocaust scholarship. Historic antisemitica reveals a cultural tradition in Europe that the Nazis were able to exploit in pursuit of their “Final Solution.” The stereotypes found in Nazi propaganda were hardly new; Nazi propaganda was built upon the same antisemitic rhetoric and tropes that had been repeated over centuries and across countries and continents. Viewed in this context, propaganda provides insight as to why the Nazis’ message met with little resistance from an audience familiar with the language and imagery of anti-Jewish hatred.

The study of propaganda is also important to our understanding of the use of a state’s authority to control targeted segments of its population. This dynamic is explored in the VHEC’s new exhibition, Age of Influence: Youth & Nazi Propaganda. Drawing upon diverse primary sources, Age of Influence examines the Nazis’ efforts to manipulate the experiences, attitudes and aspirations of German children and teens.

photo - Photograph of a girl wearing the uniform of the League of German Girls, circa 1940. Donated by Peter N. Moogk — Photograph of a girl wearing the uniform of the League of German Girls, circa 1940. Donated by Peter N. Moogk. *(photo from VHEC)*

Many of the materials featured in this exhibition will be new to visitors, such as family photographs, Nazi youth magazines and anti-Roma youth fiction. Other artifacts will be instantly recognizable, like the infamous children’s books on display at the VHEC for the first time: The Poisonous Mushroom (Ernst Hiemer, Der Giftpilz, Nuremberg: Stürmerverlag, 1938) and Trust No Fox (Elvira Bauer, Trau keinem Fuchs auf grüner Heid und keinem Jud auf seinem Eid [Trust No Fox on his Green Heath and No Jew on his Oath], Nuremberg: Der Stürmer Verlag, 1936). Age of Influence is designed to encourage active engagement with these artifacts and images. Throughout the exhibition, questions prompt visitors to critically analyze materials on display and identify common techniques used to disseminate both positive and negative propaganda.

The exhibition’s storyline begins in the early 20th century, when youth in Germany started defining themselves as a distinct socio-cultural group, attracting the attention of parties across the political spectrum. Popularized by youth-led groups like the Wandervogel, the German youth movement sought independence from adult authority and embraced communal and back-to-nature ideals. Their activities focused on hiking, survival skills and group pursuits in nature. Against this backdrop, the Nazi party emerged and cast itself as the future-facing “movement of youth.” With its Hitler Youth organization, the Nazi party tapped into the German youth movement and set its sights on this demographic to shape the future of a “racially pure” and physically fit national community.

Age of Influence examines how the Hitler Youth became the regime’s most effective tool to indoctrinate children and teens in Nazi ideology. It offered German youth a powerful group identity and appealed to adolescent yearnings such as the desire to belong, the quest for action and adventure, a sense of purpose and independence from parents. With separate organizations for boys and girls, Hitler Youth glorified gender roles. Boys were prepared for military and leadership responsibilities while girls were groomed to become wives, mothers and caregivers for the nation.

image - June 1934 issue of Der Aufbruch, a Hitler Youth magazine. Donated by Joseph Tan — June 1934 issue of Der Aufbruch, a Hitler Youth magazine. Donated by Joseph Tan. *(image from VHEC)*

An array of Nazi youth magazines from 1934 to 1943 are featured in Age of Influence, as well as family photographs, collectible cigarette cards, video clips and Hitler Youth paraphernalia. Visitors can browse the pages of Nazi youth magazines to discover for themselves the eye-catching fonts, unique graphics and captivating images, which were carefully designed to attract young audiences. At its height, the Nazi youth press published 57 different magazine titles for children.

While participation in Hitler Youth was compulsory for most children, Jewish youths were banned from membership. Their experience is given voice in the exhibition by local survivors. In video testimony clips, Serge Vanry, Jannushka Jakoubovitch and Judith Eisinger describe their feelings of fear, shame and rejection as Jewish children confronted with pervasive antisemitic propaganda and excluded from the activities of their non-Jewish peers.

Perhaps the best-known propaganda tactic used by the Nazis was the creation of common enemies. Antisemitism and racism were key educational goals in the Nazi German school system, where students were taught that the health of the German nation was threatened by “inferior” groups like the Jews, Roma and individuals with disabilities. By demonizing and scapegoating these groups, the Nazis created a climate of hostility and indifference toward their treatment. Age of Influence depicts this process with reference to artifacts such as children’s books and instructional posters used in German schools.

Contextualizing Nazi propaganda within a broad historical framework is essential. For this reason, Age of Influence has been mounted in conjunction with In Focus: The Holocaust through the VHEC Collection. In Focus presents a thematic history of the Holocaust, illustrated by artifacts donated to the VHEC by local survivors and collectors. A curated selection of antisemitica in this exhibition conveys the long-held perceptions and representations of Jews through time.

This history is also important as we navigate escalating antisemitism and racism around the globe and in Canada, where reports of antisemitic incidents have reached record levels. The use of digital media has amplified hate, and the ease with which disinformation can be spread on social media platforms perpetuates Holocaust distortion and denial. In this milieu, it is imperative to equip students with the media literacy skills required to critically evaluate information they encounter. Age of Influence will assist educators to promote key curricular objectives such as digital literacy, critical thinking and social responsibility.

For more information on Age of Influence and In Focus, visit vhec.org.

Lise Kirchner has worked with the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre since 1999 in the development and delivery of its educational programs. She was part of the exhibition team that developed Age of Influence: Youth & Nazi Propaganda, along with Tessa Coutu, Franziska Schurr and Illene Yu. This article was originally published in the VHEC’s Spring 2023 issue of Zachor.