Holocaust Education Week Officially Launches November 2, 2014 on the theme "Collaboration"

TORONTO, Oct. 31, 2014 /CNW/ - The 34^th annual Holocaust Education Week (#HEW2014) opens November 2 and runs through November 9. One of the largest educational forums of its kind, HEW 2014 features renowned scholars, authors, and cultural performers. At the core of HEW 2014 are the personal accounts of survivors of the Holocaust featured in schools, libraries and venues across the GTA.

"Collaboration" serves as a prism for examining the breadth and depth of human and institutional responses to National Socialism and the events of the Holocaust. Programs during HEW 2014 address a range of experiences from those who purposely chose to collaborate with the Nazis to those who defied the Nazis and collaborated instead in resistance and rescue.

"The theme of Collaboration is particularly poignant," said Dr. Carson Phillips, Acting Director for the Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre, UJA Federation of Greater Toronto. "It offers numerous entry points for us to learn about the complexities of the Holocaust, as well as ethical decision making, values and personal agency."

More than 150 free programs including exhibits, panel discussions, cultural performances, film screenings and survivor testimonies will be taking place throughout the week. Each event is geared towards educating, inspiring and challenging Canadians to learn from the past and commit to building a better future. The 2014 program guide is available for download here.

• Complete listings and information at www.holocausteducationweek.com.

The following are the details for the highlight programs:

Opening Night: Love and Treasure
Sunday, 2 November | 7:30 pm
Royal Ontario Museum | Samuel Hall Currelly Gallery | 100 Queen's Park | Toronto

Renowned author Ayelet Waldman, in conversation with journalist Ben Kaplan, discusses her acclaimed book, Love and Treasure, a work of historical fiction centered on the Hungarian Gold Train. Holocaust Education Week's Scholar-in-Residence Doris L. Bergen, Chancellor Rose and Ray Wolfe Professor of Holocaust Studies (University of Toronto), opens the program with an historical overview of the Holocaust in Hungary. Book sales and signing to follow the program.

Closing Night of HEW 2014: Kristallnacht Commemoration - Kristallnacht Then and Now
Sunday, 9 November | 7:30 PM
Beth Tzedec Congregation | 1700 Bathurst Street | Toronto

Doris L. Bergen explores some less familiar aspects of the "Night of Broken Glass." In keeping with the theme of Collaboration, special attention will be paid to the role played during Kristallnacht by non-Jewish Germans, Austrians, and non-Jews in the Sudetenland. Closing Night of HEW will also include a candle-lighting ceremony commemorating the 76^th anniversary of Kristallnacht.

Quick Facts

• Canada has been profoundly shaped by approximately 40,000 Holocaust survivors, who immigrated to Canada in the aftermath of the Second World War
• HEW was founded by Holocaust survivors; we feature 70+ programs with Holocaust survivor testimony
• HEW culminates in a commemoration of Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass (November 9-10, 1938), when a massive, state-sponsored attack was carried out against Jewish homes, synagogues and businesses throughout the German Reich.
• More than 150 programs are taking place across the GTA and in communities across Ontario
• Holocaust Education Week is presented by the Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre
• HEW is one of the most comprehensive educational forums in the world.
• More than 100 community volunteers help deliver programming.
• HEW features international experts from acclaimed institutions globally
• HEW presents compelling and cutting-edge artistic and cultural programs on the theme
• In 2013, more than 35,000 people participated in HEW programming

Image with caption: "This image was conceived by Bernice Eisenstein, HEW’S Artist-in-Residence, for HEW’s theme of collaboration--a word layered with meanings. Pelikan ink was used in Auschwitz for the tattooing of prisoners, numbered for identification. As an artist, Bernice works with words and images, placing them together for further expression through the ways they connect and interweave. (CNW Group/UJA Federation of Greater Toronto)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20141031_C6454_PHOTO_EN_7349.jpg

Image with caption: "Neuberger HEW 2014 Holocaust Education Week (CNW Group/UJA Federation of Greater Toronto)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20141031_C6454_PHOTO_EN_7350.jpg

Image with caption: "Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre, UJA Federation of Greater Toronto (CNW Group/UJA Federation of Greater Toronto)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20141031_C6454_PHOTO_EN_7351.jpg

SOURCE: UJA Federation of Greater Toronto

For additional information or to arrange an interview with one of Holocaust Education Week's presenters please contact Michelle Fishman ([email protected]) or 416.635.2883 x 5018