Today, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies' (FSWC) Director of Education Melissa Mikel spoke to members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) at their Ottawa Headquarters. The presentation was in support of Holocaust survivor Max Eisen's presentation yesterday. The topic was the history of the Holocaust with a focus on the role of law enforcement. The crowd listened attentively as Melissa looked at the different policing roles that were established under Heinrich Himmler and Reinhold Heydrich in Nazi Germany, along with how this policing model within Germany became a pattern in occupied countries as the Third Reich expanded their reach.
Many comments that followed the presentation were requests for more reading material. The interest in the topic was evident in both presentations (September 19th and 20th). There were also some interesting personal stories that were shared; individuals who were motivated to study the history of the Holocaust because of its relevance today. One particular member of the audience had been a part of war crime trials in the Rwandan genocide and had been responsible for collecting survivor testimony.