On Jan. 27 Canada celebrates Holocaust Remembrance Day, where Canadian citizens take time to remember and commemorate those who lost their lives during the genocide and educate themselves on the historical event.
Seventy-nine years later, the effects of World War II are still felt all over the world and since October 2023 Canada has experienced a significant spike in antisemitism of 670 per cent.
In 1945, the Holocaust ended with the surrender of Germany. The Russian army liberated ten camps east of the Oder River, the Allied Forces liberated the five western camps and with the dwindling of the Nazi party the war had ended after twelve years.
Marty Lebi is a University of Waterloo architectural engineering student, working closely with Hillel as the organization’s social engagement intern. Hillel Laurier is a branch of Hillel International; an organization that provides supports for Jewish post-secondary students.
“Most elementary and high school education systems fail to properly focus on Holocaust education, which is deeply concerning considering recent global rises in antisemitism. Though I was fortunate enough to grow up in a strong Jewish community and attend Jewish day school in my childhood, I noticed issues as I entered university,” Lebi said when asked about his opinion on Holocaust education in schools.
“Many of the non-Jewish friends I have made have major gaps in their knowledge of the Holocaust – most don’t even know how many Jewish people were killed. This is a serious issue in our educational systems, as it glosses over the most significant instances of Jewish persecution in recent years,” Lebi said.
Without this knowledge and education, preventing large-scale antisemitism is made that much harder. Jewish education is limited, history is often diminished and swept aside despite its importance.
Eva Plach, an associate professor in the Department of History at Wilfrid Laurier University also shared her perspective. “The Holocaust happened for many reasons — because of ideology, antisemitism, propaganda, war, politics – and because individual people chose to become killers. Understanding why and how “ordinary people” could be mobilized to participate in genocide is important. There are lessons in that for our day, I think,” Plach said. “In an age when lots of people get their “news” from social media outlets the work of professional historians is even more important.”
Plach stressed the need for history to be an evidence-based discipline that safeguards fact-based historical record to counteract disinformation and propaganda.
“Historians use evidence judiciously to make arguments about origins, cause and effect, and the evolution of policies and decisions,” Plach said.
Canada continues to feel the impact of the Holocaust on its culture, community and the waves of antisemitism that are still present in the country.
Antisemitism is learned, and anti-Jewish stereotypes run deep into the education and media society consumes. Even though Jewish people make up only 1.4 per cent of the Canadian population, 70 per cent of religious hate crimes have antisemitic intent.
“We have a civic responsibility — and a moral one — to remember our collective pasts. If we want to celebrate the positive aspects of our histories, then we should also have the confidence and humility to remember the ignoble or difficult parts of our histories. We are products of everything that has come before us,” Plach said.
The Holocaust Remembrance Day is an opportunity not only to recollect the Holocaust, but to honour those who served, and continue to support those who suffered.
Photo by Jackie Vang.
