Today the Tour for Humanity was back in the London area and the Thames Valley District School Board. Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) Educator Elena was in Strathroy where she taught 4 workshops in total: 2 Canadian Experience for Grade 10 history students and 2 Global Experience for Grade 12 students. The students were fairly quiet throughout the day but we received amazing feedback from all of the staff.   Although students were generally quiet, Elena did have some excellent questions and led some powerful conversations. The 3rd workshop of the day was a Grade 10 group and there were 3 young men sitting front row, centre who were specially selected from the alternative learning program to attend the workshop. They answered each question that was asked about the Holocaust. Elena was surprised to learn they were identified as having difficulty in school as they were so attentive and engaged in our lesson. This group knew a lot of detail about the Nazi regime and its treatment of Jews as well as other targeted groups like those with mental illness. Their teacher commented that she was thrilled with how much they spoke up and how rare it is for them to be able to participate like that. 

FSWC Educator Daniella also facilitated two Media Literacy and Propaganda workshops for 4 Grade 8 classes at a Catholic elementary school in Unionville.  Each workshop began with an overview of what propaganda is and different ways that it has been used throughout history. The students were very knowledgeable about propaganda during the Nazi period, but were less familiar with propaganda used during other periods. Daniella split them into small groups of about 5-6 students and handed each group a propaganda poster from a different era and asked them to consider questions such as “what is the intended message”, “what emotions are being displayed” and “would this poster be successful today”? Students and teachers really liked the activity because it allowed students to critically analyze posters and then teach their classmates about them. 

The workshops then transitioned to the Nazi period, focusing on Triumph of the Will (Nazi propaganda documentary about the 1934 Nazi rally in Nuremberg) and The Poisonous Mushroom (an antisemitic children’s book published in Germany in 1938). Both were new to students so therefore they were very eager to learn more and to really analyse the meaning and the impact of the propaganda. 

The organizing teacher commented at the end of the workshops that the material fit in perfectly with topics the classes had recently studied and what they would be studying shortly.