Participate in Holocaust Education Week at TMU

Hillel, the centre for Jewish life at Toronto Metropolitan University is empowering students through important programming this Holocaust Education Week (external link) . With organized learning events, the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) community can reflect on the extreme and devastating consequences of antisemitism during this historical moment, and take the opportunity to increase awareness of the impacts of discrimination and hate today.

Hillel is pleased to offer events in-person this year. View the full event list below.

Get inspired by the resiliency of the human spirit

Programming includes a screening of the film Reckonings – The First Reparations, which made its Canadian premiere at this year’s Toronto Jewish Film Festival and is slated for wide release on November 12, 2022. The film recounts the little known history of the Luxembourg Agreements of 1952 that paved the way for compensation to Holocaust survivors. And there will be a testimony from Elly Gotz, a survivor of the Holocaust, who will share his personal experience as a way to teach tolerance and an understanding of the conditions that bring about genocide.

Hate crimes are on the rise

Acts of antisemitism are increasing in Canada. Statistics Canada (external link)  reports that Jewish Canadians remain the most targeted religious minority for hate crimes in the country. In 2021, police-reported hate crimes targeting the Jewish religion were up 47 per cent. 

Strengthening our knowledge of the Holocaust is a critical step towards countering all forms of discrimination and hate. Hillel TMU is providing thoughtful programming to engage in this year’s Holocaust Education Week, so come be inspired to take positive action and make meaningful change.

EVENTS

'Reckonings' - Film Screening
Date:  Wednesday, November 16, 6:00 p.m.
Location: Rogers Communications Centre, Room 204 

During Holocaust Education Week join Hillel TMU on campus at the RCC, room #204 on Wednesday, November 16th at 6pm, for a screening of Reckonings. 

Directed by award-winning filmmaker Roberta Grossman, Reckonings recounts the tense negotiations between Jewish and German leaders. Under the constant threat of violence, they forged ahead, knowing it would never be enough but hoping it could at least be an acknowledgment and a step towards healing. Please RSVP (external link) .

Memorial Lighting and Kaddish
Date: Wednesday, November 16, 7 p.m.
Location: On the front steps of the Student Learning Centre (SLC)

In honour of all the lives cut short in the Holocaust, join in lighting memorial candles. Join this event (external link) .

Survivor Testimony: Elly Gotz
Date: Thursday, November 17, 6:00 p.m.
Location: Daphne Cockwell Health Sciences Complex (DCC), Room 204

Join Hillel TMU on campus to hear from the incredibly inspiring Holocaust survivor, Elly Gotz via ZOOM. This is an event you will NOT want to miss. Please RSVP (external link) . 

About Elly:

Elly Gotz was born in 1928 in Kovno, Lithuania. His war started in 1941 when the Germans invaded the Soviet Union – he was about 13 when the war broke out. Elly and his family were put into a ghetto that same year. When the ghetto was liquidated, Elly was taken to Dachau, where he worked in a factory for a German company called Moll. His job was to build a giant underground factory. He was fortunate to be liberated when the war concluded in 1945. After the war, Elly first lived in Germany, then in Norway, and finally he went to South Africa to live with some distant relatives in order to get a good education. He and his wife are now making it their mission to collect 400 Holocaust survivor stories in order to educate and to make sure that an event as terrible as this will never happen again.