‍

Today, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies (FSWC) hosted 50 Grade 11 students from a local high school at the Tom & Anna Koffler Tolerance Training Centre for a Lessons and Legacies of the Holocaust workshop. Holocaust survivor Vera Schiff also came in to share her testimony with the students.

Although the group was quiet, there were a few interesting comments and questions. The classes were Grade 11 Religion and they were beginning to work on a unit on Judaism so FSWC Educator Daniella spent quite a long time going over the history of antisemitism, with particular emphasis on the original Jewish ghettos in the Middle Ages. Daniella asked the class to describe characteristics of modern ‘ghettos’ and then went on to explain that our modern interpretation originated in the Jewish ghettos of the Middle Ages. 

One interesting question from a student concerned the Jewish people in Germany at the beginning of Hitler’s rise to power. She wanted to know if anyone saw the signs of what was coming and why people did not leave sooner. Daniella explained that some people did see the rising antisemitism in Germany and were consequently able to emigrate but that many Jewish people considered themselves to be German. They were patriotically German, with some even fighting for Germany during World War I, so as far as they were concerned Germany was their home. This question also allowed Daniella to connect the story of the SS St. Louis and speak to the fact that when the Jewish people did try to leave, there were very few places that would take in refugees, including Canada.

The Tour for Humanity continued its journey around Sault Ste. Marie by visiting another Grades 7-12 school facility. FSWC Educator Elena taught 5 workshops on the Canadian Experience to Grades 7, 8 and 10 students - and the program was a big hit with both the students and teachers. In the Canadian Experience workshop, students learn about a variety of difficult topics in Canadian history including slavery, the Indian Residential Schools System, the voyage of the SS St. Louis and the systemic internment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War. Following a review of the past, current issues including cyber bullying and modern-day examples of intolerance are examined and discussed.  Elena found the students at Korah to be very attentive but less knowledgeable about the Holocaust which shaped many of the discussions she led yesterday, particularly with the younger students.

There was one young man in the first group of the day who was very passionate about sharing his knowledge about World War II and the Holocaust. He knew that the death camps were in Poland and asked if Elena had ever been to Auschwitz. Another student in the class raised the familiar question about why Jewish people didn’t try to hide their identity since many of them didn’t look ‘different’ than other Europeans. Elena told the students about the identity papers and other ways Nazis had of tracking and categorizing people through the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 and 1938. Elena also told them to think about their own lives, what their last names were, if their parents attended church, etc. Germany was a very modern country and we think that things were very different in the past but Nazi Germany was a very modern, bureaucratically-organized state. They kept excellent records of their victims and their activities during the Holocaust.

Another fascinating discussion from the day stemmed from one young woman who shared some information while Elena discussed Residential Schools during the Canadian History portion of the workshop. She told Elena and the class that they had a residential school right there in town, called Shingwauk Residential School. Incredibly, the old school building has been integrated into Algoma University’s Sault Ste. Marie Campus and the site preserves the history of Shingwauk School from its opening day in 1873 until its closure in 1970. The students told Elena that one can view a lot of photos and documents from the school and upon investigating further, Elena has found that the site is managed by a cross-cultural research and educational development project of Algoma University, the CSAA, and the National Residential School Survivor Society. There is also a cemetery of students from Shingwauk School that you can visit at the site. Elena was also told by the kids that today, Algoma University serves a lot of Aboriginal Canadians from the area so it continues to be a place of learning for Indigenous Canadians, albeit in a much more positive context.