Today Tour for Humanity continued its North Bay week at a secondary school in the city. Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) Educator Daniella hosted 5 workshops, working primarily with Grades 7-10 students. The first group was a Grade 9/10 split class with a ton of questions! Daniella spent the entire hour discussing the Holocaust, as the questions just kept coming. Some students wanted to know why Hitler specifically targeted the Jewish people, while others also questioned why the rest of the world didn’t try to stop the Nazis. After both questions were answered, Daniella transitioned to the Nuremberg Laws and how one by one people’s rights were stripped away. Daniella used a modern day example of losing rights to cell phone usage or the freedom to go to the movies on a Friday night to relate to the students and their own lives.

One of the afternoon classes was memorable due to one very special student. When he first entered the bus, he was goofing off with his friends and Daniella suspected he might be the type of student she would have to constantly quiet down. Once he realized the topic, he became a completely different person. He immediately shared with the class that he was really interested in both World War II and the Holocaust and had done a lot of research on his own time. He wasn’t kidding. Immediately following the video, his hand went up. Virtually every topic Daniella explained he either asked a question or answered a question. Due to the depth of his knowledge Daniella wished she had more time with the group.

FSWC Director of Education Melissa along with Holocaust survivor Max Eisen also continued their training in Saskatchewan, moving to Regina to speak with 1,200 students from the Regina Catholic Schools Division, Regina Schools Division and the Prairie Valley School Division. The program proved to be a meaningful and inspiring experience for both students and teachers in attendance. A new teacher approached survivor Max Eisen at the end to share her personal journey - she had been introduced to the Holocaust by her Grade 7 teacher and that experience had inspired her to become a teacher herself. Having achieved her goal, now teaching in Regina, she was moved to tears to greet Max - a Holocaust survivor - along with her Grade 7 teacher that inspired her to pursue her dream.