Holocaust Remembrance

VE Day and Yom Hashoah ceremonies set for CSL on Sunday, April 27

The annual Victory in Europe (V-E) Day commemoration will  takes place on Sunday, April 27 at 11 am at Veterans Park, next to Côte Saint-Luc City Hall on Cavendish Boulevard. That same evening, Yom Hashoah will be held at the Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem Congregation on Baily Road in CSL.

In attendance at VE Day will be members of the Brigadier Frederick Kisch Branch 97 of the Royal Canadian Legion, Mayor Anthony Housefather, members of our Côte Saint-Luc city council, dignitaries, veterans and residents. 
 
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Meeting with veterans at last year's ceremony.
 
“It is important to express our gratitude to the men and women who have fought to liberate Europe,” said Ruth Kovac, who is the co-chairperson of this event with Councillor Allan J. Levine. “Our veterans also ended the genocide against the Jewish population of Europe and others targeted by the Nazis. Attending this ceremony is a concrete and visible manner to honour them.”  
 
Victory in Europe (V-E) Day was May 8, 1945, the date when the Second World War Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany. The cenotaph at Veterans Park honours the memory of those who gave their lives in the First World War, the Second World War and the Korean War. 
 
“I encourage everyone to come on April 27 and show support for our veterans who still continue to do so much for our community and look after their own,” Councillor Levine said. “Every November during the annual Poppy Fund Campaign, the veterans sit for hours in malls and grocery stores pinning endless poppies on endless lapels to collect funds. The monies collected are then returned to the community through donations to local organisations, such as the Mount Sinai Hospital Foundation, the Royal Victoria Hospital, the Jewish General Hospital, the Salvation Army, the Old Brewery Mission and many others.”
 
This year’s commemoration will be conducted by Brigadier Frederick Kisch Branch 97 President, Frank Levine.  In the event of rain, the ceremony will be held indoors at the City Hall.
 
Meanwhile, the  annual Yom Hashoah  community-wide commemoration,  organized by the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre,  perpetuates the memory of all those who were murdered during the Holocaust and honours those who survived. It reminds us of our collective responsibility to remember the Holocaust and to protect individuals and communities from oppression, hate, racism and discriminatory policies.
 
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This year’s theme, 1944 – and the trains kept going, will speak to the horrific events of 1944 and as a sub-theme, honour the memory of the Jews of Hungary, most of whom were deported and murdered in the space of a few months during that year.

 


An emotional Yom Hashoah ceremony in CSL

The annual Yom Hashoah commemoration was held  April 7 at  Congregation Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem on Baily Rd in  Côte-Saint-Luc). The ceremony helps to perpetuate the memory of all those who were murdered during the Holocaust, to honour the survivors. It reminds us of our collective responsibility to remember the Holocaust and to protect individuals and communities from oppression, hate, racism and discriminatory policies. This community-wide commemoration is  organized by the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre.

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As usual, the sanctuary at the TBDJ was filled to capacity. Quebec Liberal MNA for D'Arcy McGee Lawrence Bergman was accompanied by his party's new leader, Philippe Couillard (pictured above). Mount Royal Liberal MP Irwin Cotler and Montreal Mayor Michael Applebaum were there, as was Projet Montréal leader Richard Bergeron and several members of council.  Other municipal politicians, including yours truly, were on hand as well

This year’s theme, 1943, the Year of Uprisings, honoured the courage of the many thousands of men and women who stood up against deportation and mass murder, risking their lives to initiate uprisings in ghettos (Warsaw, Bialystok, Lvov and others) and death camps (Treblinka and Sobibor, and others). Despite these acts of bravery, 1943 was a year of mass deportation and vast destruction of Jewish communities.

Jacob Lev

Six Montreal Holocaust survivors lit memorial candles, symbolizing the six million Jews murdered during World War II. They shared their memories of 1943 through short video testimonies.Jacob Lev (picture at the left)  broke down as he watched video testimony  about his life in the Warsaw Ghetto, how he smuggled food for his family as a young boy and about his life in a labour camp. Child survivor Yehudi Lindeman described how he was saved by his mother and other rescuers from deportation, living in hiding until liberation by Canadian soldiers.Leon Calderon shared the story of his deportation to Auschwitz-Birkenau from his native Salonika and how he was forced to clean up the Warsaw ghetto, with 100 Greek camp inmates, after the uprising.Musia Schwartz talked about her survival in Warsaw under a false identity as a Christian maid. Fela Ross described her life in the Lodz ghetto until her deportation to Auschwitz, from there to slave labour in Hamburg and finally to Bergen-Belsen where she was liberated.Baruch Spiegel, the last Montreal survivor involved in the Warsaw ghetto uprising, shared his memories of the fighters and his involvement in the uprising. He was  represented by his daughter, Mindy Spiegel, who lit the memorial candle on his behalf.

Joel Lion, the Consul General of Israel, spoke about his late grandfather who died in the Sobibor death camp."It is our duty to make sure that Jews will never be killed again because they are Jewish," he remarked. "The antisemitic beast is still alive."

It was a powerful experience to be part of. We are fortunate to have many survivors still with us, willing and able to tell their stories. At the conclusion of the evening all Holocaust survivors present were asked to rise. The numbers have dropped naturally over the years, but there was still a strong presence. Then the second generation were asked to rise and the numbers increased dramatically.

The Bialik High School Choir and soprano Sharon Azrieli Perez provided music and song.


Community-wide commemoration of Kristallnacht takes place in CSL

As the president of the organizing committee for this year’s Montreal commemoration of Kristallnacht, the Night of the Broken Glass, veteran educator Hanna Eliashiv wanted to do something different. Working directly with the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre, an outstanding documentary was produced and screened last week for the first time at Congregation Beth Israel Beth Aaron, located   in Côte St. Luc.  

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The film told the story of Kristallnacht from the standpoint of four Montreal Holocaust survivors who were witnesses: Charlotte Lintzel, Ursula Feist, Leo Dortort, Willie Glaser, as well as Alexandra Cohen, a young adult who has chosen to transmit  their message to her generation.(Feist, Glazer and Cohen are pictured here).

Charlotte Lintzel was born in Berlin just before the rise of Hitler. Her family had not fled; she survived the war in hiding. Ursula Feist was born in Berlin in 1921. Just after the start of the war, her family sought refuge in Shanghai where they later were interned by the Japanese. Born in 1928 in Graz, Austria, Leo Dortort was just 10 years old when he witnessed the riots taking place in Graz during Kristallnacht. Willie Glaser was born in Furth, Germany. He was only 17 years old when he witnessed the atrocities perpetrated during Kristallnacht in Munich where he was a student. Alexandra Cohen represents the generation of young Jewish adults. She is a human rights activist and an active member of Amnesty International.

The five individuals were in the audience and together lit a memorial candle. At the conclusion of the ceremony, Eliashiv was surrounded by admirers who asked her how fast she can get this film into schools – Jewish and non-Jewish- as the message sent was invaluable. “That is our plan,” Eliashiv promised. “We are working on an educational guide to accompany it and we want that to be finished first.”

“We are the future leaders of our communities,” Alexandra Cohen stated. “Kristallnacht and the Shoah must teach us to be vigilant for acts of hatred and racism.  It is our responsibility to listen for warnings like Kristallnacht and to never allow another genocide to happen.”

Dutort noted how Hitler used Kristallnacht to see if the rest of the world would react. It did not.

“Antisemtism,” said Furst, “is rising. We must teach tolerance in schools.”

This year’s commemorative ceremony included a musical program containing pieces presented by the Bialik High School choir and Kol Nidrei by Max Bruch.

Kristallnacht was a pogrom orchestrated by the Nazis on November 9th and 10th 1938. It took place throughout Germany, annexed Austria, and in areas of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia, then recently occupied by German troops. It marks the intensification of a regime of terror against Jews by the Third Reich. Kristallnacht owes its name to the shards of shattered glass that lined German streets in the wake of the pogrom - broken glass from the windows of synagogues, homes, and Jewish-owned businesses plundered and destroyed during the violence. All these events were greeted with total indifference by the international community.

Joel Lion, the Consul General of Israel, an eloquent speaker, noted that in 1938 the Jews of Europe had nowhere to go. “Palestine was closed,” he said. “No country in the world was ready to open up its doors But today if a stone is thrown in  France, Germany, the Ukraine, Canada or the United States, there is a place for the Jewish community – Israel. It is because of the State of Israel that you can live as a proud Jew wherever you want.”

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In attendance were a number of other members of the diplomatic corps as well as CSL Mayor Anthony Housefather, Councillors Ruth Kovac, Mitchell Brownstein, Steven Erdelyi, Dida Berku and myself, Hampstead Mayor William Steinberg and Councillor Abe Gonshor and St. Laurent Councillor Maurice Cohen, who just marked 30 years in politics (he is pictured here with Berku). Rabbi Reuben J. Poupko, the dynamic spiritual leader of Beth Israel Beth Aaron, gave closing remarks.

Visibly absence were young adults from the community. Where were all of the kids who attend the local Jewish day schools? And why did some very notable Jewish community organizations decide to hold special dinners and raffles on a solemn night like this? It is hard to figure.

While the official locally produced video is not ready for more of a public viewing yet, here is one about Kristallnacht:

 

 

 

 

 

 


Raoul Wallenberg Centennial Kicked Off at Bialik High School

Students from three public high schools and one Jewish day school got an authentic lesson in history recently when Montreal commemorations for the 100th anniversary of  Raoul Wallenberg were kicked off. I was pleased to co-chair this program with fellow city councillor Allan J. Levine.

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Bialik High School hosted the program, with students from Marymount Academy, LaurenHill Academy, Westmount High School and a distinguished list of speakers in attendance. After Alice Herscovitch, executive director of the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre, showed a video testimonial of a survivor whose life was saved by Wallenberg she followed that up by introducing that individual – Ron Meisels – in the audience. Meisels was overcome with emotion having watched the clip, remembering the day when Wallenberg granted Swedish passports for his family and countless others.  

“My stepfather was on a train destined for a Nazi death camp,” Meisels explained. “Wallenberg stopped that train, got him off and saved his life.”
 
The Consulate General of the State of Israel, in conjunction with the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre, the Riva and Thomas O. Hecht Scholarship Program, Teaching of the Holocaust for Educators, the City of Côte Saint-Luc, the English Montreal School Board and the Office of Mount Royal Liberal Member of Parliament Irwin Cotler, teamed up for the event.

Wallenberg was the Swedish diplomat who saved the lives of tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust. While serving as Swedish envoy in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, from July 1944, Wallenberg gave Jews Swedish travel documents and set up safe houses for them. He is also credited with dissuading German officers from massacring the 70,000 inhabitants of the city’s ghetto.

The Nazis, who occupied Hungary in early 1944, launched mass deportations of Hungarian Jews to concentration camps such as Auschwitz with the collaboration of local authorities. Wallenberg disappeared after being arrested in Hungary by the Soviet Red Army in 1945. The Russians have said he was executed on July 17, 1947, but unverified witness accounts and newly uncovered evidence suggest he may have lived beyond that date.

Israel Consul General for Quebec and the Atlantic Provinces, Joel Lion, announced plans for a Raoul Wallenberg Legacy Competition Project. Students from across Quebec will be asked in the fall to produce three minute videos showing how the legacy of Wallenberg is still relative today. Winners of the competition will receive a special certificate and be honoured at a breakfast hosted by the Consul General of Israel in December 2012 followed by a visit to the Montreal Holocaust Museum. 

“Who goes on YouTube here?” Israeli Consul General Joël Lion asked. “We want to put your videos about Raoul Wallenberg on YouTube.”

The legacy of Wallenberg will also be marked by the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre during their Holocaust Education Series next fall. On May 23 (5:30 p.m.) the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation of Montreal will hold a commemoration at the Monument at Raoul Wallenberg Square (600 de Maisonneuve).  

The Riva and Thomas O. Hecht Scholarship Program, Teaching of the Holocaust for Educators, will help solicit participation from English and French public and private schools in the Montreal area. Each year The Riva and Thomas O. Hecht Scholarship Program, Teaching of the Holocaust for Educators, sponsors teachers to attend a Summer Session of the International Seminar for Educators at Yad Vashem. Past winners represent a natural connection to bring the Wallenberg story into the classrooms.

Côte Saint-Luc Mayor Anthony Housefather urged students to visit the city’s Human Rights Walkway at Pierre Elliott Trudeau Park, where Wallenberg had been inducted a number of years ago.

Liberal MP for Mount Royal Irwin Cotler, considered to be one of the world’s foremost authorities on Wallenberg, noted that the former diplomat became the first honourary citizen of Canada. “He was a Swedish non-Jew who saved more Jewish lives than any single government,” Cotler said.

D’Arcy McGee Liberal MNA Lawrence Bergman drew a parallel between what Wallenberg did and things students experience in today’s society. “Do not remain silence in the face of bullying, racism and antisemitism,” he warned.

Thomas O. Hecht spoke about how Wallenberg came from a wealth family, yet put his own life in harm’s way.   Peter Rona from the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation told everyone he would not be here today was it not for Wallenberg. “My father was one of those people he saved,” he shared.

 


Kristallnacht ceremony held in CSL

A community-wide commemoration of Kristallnacht took place on November 9 at Beth Israel Beth Aaron Congregation in Côte Saint-Luc. The program featured a nice intercultural component.

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Pictured here is the choir from General Vanier Elementary School from Montreal’s East End where none of the students are Jewish. Their music teacher, Jason Lipstein, is an orthodox Jew who travelled to Israel last summer as part of a Holocaust Education Program at Yad Vashem. Upon his return he pledged to teach his students music of the Holocaust. Their presence at Kristallnacht last week, alongside the Bialik High School Choir, was very well received as was their performance of  the Yiddish folk sing Vie Ahin Zoll Ich Gein (Tell me where I should go?). The program also included remarks from a witness to the Kristallnacht, Isle Matalon, Israel Consul General Joel Lion, Rabbi Reuben Poupko, another short musical program, a memorial prayer and kaddish. Long time Jewish day school teacher  Hanna Eliashiv chaired the evening.

Here is a video about Kristallnacht:

 


Quebec Premier Charest addresses Yom Hashoah commemoration in CSL

Quebec Premier Jean Charest (pictured)  made a surprise appearance at this year’s annual Montreal commemoration of Yom Hashoah May 1 at Congregation Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem in Côte Saint-Luc.

“In order to live in the hope of peace we must honour the victims of this horrifying period,” Charest told the gathering of more than 1,000 people. “Overall we must prevent such horror from ever happening again.”
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Premier Charest, pictured here with Israeli Consul Genera l Yoram  Elron at Yom Hashoah (photo courtesy of the Canadian Jewish News)

Charest alluded to D’Arcy McGee MNA Lawrence Bergman, chairman of the government caucus, who in 1999 sponsored a bill in the Quebec National Assembly which officially proclaimed a Yom Hashoah Day in Quebec City. It was approved by members of all parties. “Quebec’s representatives from all parties made this gesture so that the death of six million innocent men, women and children would never be forgotten. Montreal and Quebec would not be the society it is today without its Jewish community. I want to remind all Quebecers about our duty to remember.”
 
This year’s theme, The life that was, sought to portray all that was destroyed through Nazism and to highlight the consequences of discriminatory and racist policies which still today, can lead to genocide.  Organizers wanted the elements of the program to help the public understand life in Jewish communities before and during the Holocaust.
 
Six Holocaust survivors, symbolizing the six million victims of the Jewish genocide during World War II, lit memorial candles with second and third generation members of their families.  They  spoke through short video-clips: Ben Bicher talked about Jewish life in Belgium; Henry Gitelman  evoked images of Sabbath with his grandparents in Poland; Susan Arato, who attended a crafts school to become a stylist, told  about her family life; Charlotte Szyf  shared her memories of summers at the seashore in Poland; Dr. Emil Svarc, a young child when Yugoslavia (Croatia today) was occupied,  remembered how he enjoyed playing in the park with other children and Sarah Engelhard  shared her aunt’s advice.

The Bialik High School  Choir, conducted by Lorna Smith,  were  excellent as they sang a number of songs in Yiddish.  Marcel Tenenbaum and Jack Dym co-chaired the event. Israeli Consul General Yoram Elron, who only six weeks ago lost his eldest son to cancer, thanked the premier for attending and spoke about the importance of a Jewish State – something that did not exist during the Holocaust.

Yom Hashoah was organized  by the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre.

On May 3,  B'nai Brith Canada-Quebec will mark Yom Hashoah  with a memorial ceremony on the steps of Montreal City Hall.


“We believe that each individual victim of the Holocaust deserves to be honoured and remembered as each one of them was someone's mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, daughter or son,” says Heidi Open, director of the B’nai Brith Quebec Region office. “ It is those individuals who we hope to bring back to life for a moment in time as we read their names during the Yom Hashoah memorial ceremony and to ensure that the lessons and memory of the Holocaust are not forgotten.