Press
This Torah made it through the Holocaust hidden under a couch. Canadian survivors help restore it
Eight Holocaust survivors gathered in Toronto on Monday afternoon to restore a Torah scroll that was hidden in a Polish village in 1939.
Ontario government adds ‘new, expanded’ required Holocaust education
“Our government is decisively combatting the rise of antisemitism and hate in all its forms,” said Stephen Lecce, Ontario's education minister.
The expansion of Ontario’s mandatory Holocaust classes in high schools is made official by education minister Stephen Lecce
Ontario is introducing new and expanded mandatory lessons about the Holocaust for Grade 10 students and providing more funding for teacher training on the subject, Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced at the Toronto Holocaust Museum on Nov. 1.
B.C. Holocaust survivor shares stories of harrowing history — and hope — in 2023 memoir
In her 2023 memoir, A Childhood Unspoken, Doduck recounts how she survived the atrocities in Europe before finding a home — and new hardship — as an orphan in a foreign, and sometimes unfriendly, country.
New Books Podcast: Flights of Spirit
This Holocaust survivor from Montreal will have her testimony preserved thanks to hologram technology
Marguerite is the first Holocaust survivor living in Montreal to record her life story with Dimensions in Testimony, a pioneering project of the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation that uses state-of-the-art technology to produce holograms of survivors.
Observing Yom HaShoah
Leora Schaefer, the Executive Director at Facing History and Ourselves, Michelle Sadowski, an Educator for the Holocaust Survivor Memoirs Program at the Azrieli Foundation, Jaime Saltz, the Grade 5 Core Teacher, and Principal Amy engage in conversation on the week of Yom HaShoah about the best practices surrounding the introduction of Holocaust education, and how our students observe such an impactful event in history. We also hear from Shira Wolch and various students across all Toronto Jewish Day Schools at the Yom Hashoah V’hagvurah 2023 Community Commemoration.
The Azrieli Foundation Launches Education Disrupted
We know that connection makes learning possible. In January, the Holocaust Survivor Memoirs Program released Education Disrupted, a free digital exhibit exploring the role of education in the lives of those who survived the Holocaust as children and youth. Years in the making and drawing from the valuable first-person narratives of Holocaust survivors, the exhibit is much more than a historical resource.
Marie Doduck’s memoir launches a week before International Holocaust Remembrance Day
The Azrieli Foundation’s Holocaust Memoirs Program in collaboration with the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre, organized a book launch of Marie (Mariette) Doduck’s memoir A Childhood Unspoken. The book launch was held on January 22 at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver.
International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Holocaust Survivor Memoirs Collection, a unique collection of audiobook memoirs written and read by Holocaust survivors honours those who survived and commemorates the legacies of those who didn’t. Azrieli Foundation CEO & Chair Naomi Azrieli joins Global's Laura Casella to tell us more about the project.
A collection of memoirs by Holocaust survivors
Naomi Azrieli, OC, D.Phil, speaks with CTV News Regina about the program's new audiobook memoirs in partnership with Penguin Random House Canada.
A collection of memoirs by Holocaust survivors
Naomi Azrieli, OC, D.Phil, speaks with CTV News Saskatoon about the program's new audiobook memoirs in partnership with Penguin Random House Canada.
Holocaust Remembrance Day
Holocaust survivor and author Elly Gotz speaks with CTV News Atlantic in honour of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
International Holocaust Remembrance Day
The Azrieli Foundation’s Jody Spiegel speaks about the significance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. She also details a series of new audiobooks that highlight the stories of survivors in their own words.
Honouring International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and today’s generation is the last that will get to hear directly from Holocaust survivors. The Azrieli Foundation’s Jody Spiegel joins Antony Robart to discuss her work.
Holocaust Survivor Pinchas Gutter On God, Good and Evil and the Importance of Sharing His Experience with Younger Generations
Among the many questions raised by International Holocaust Remembrance Day, observed on Jan. 27, is this one: How can someone who survived the brutality and horror of the Buchenwald concentration camp — whose twin sister and entire family except for a few cousins were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators, who as a 12-year old was forced to load heavy iron onto rail cars from dawn until dusk in order to earn sparse rations — endure all of that and still proclaim himself to be an optimist?
Many younger people haven't heard of Holocaust, so a renewed commitment from Canadians
Gaps in knowledge could be due to 'a lack of connection to the history as we get further away from it,' says Jody Spiegel, who works with Holocaust survivors to share their stories.
Global News Morning chats with Jody Spiegel, Director of the Memoirs Program
Holocaust history: In their own words
Hear the stories of 5 Holocaust survivors in a new collection of audiobook memoirs
Ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Friday, the Azrieli Foundation and Penguin Random House Canada have released a collection of five audiobook memoirs by Holocaust survivors who have come to this country.
Audiobook Memoirs of Holocaust Survivors to be released on Monday
Just ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Montreal's Azrieli Foundation and Penguin Random House Canada are releasing a special collection of audiobook memoirs by Holocaust survivors. We'll speak with Jody Spiegel, Director of the Memoirs Program at the Azrieli Foundation and Chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s Education Working Group.
Holocaust survivors narrate new memoirs in partnership with Penguin Random House Canada and the Azrieli Foundation
On January 23, 2023, ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27), the Azrieli Foundation and Penguin Random House Canada will release a collection of five audiobook memoirs by Holocaust survivors who came to Canada, including Memories in Focus author Pinchas Gutter. We were honoured to speak with Pinchas ahead of the audiobooks release.
Azrieli Foundation paired Holocaust survivors with volunteer writers to ensure their life stories are preserved
Yvette Newman had always told her children and grandchildren about her idyllic childhood in Slovakia, as well as life during the Holocaust when her family was ultimately deported to the concentration camps.
But there was no written record preserving her story for future generations, until an innovative program developed by the Azrieli Foundation matched her with a trained, volunteer writer.
Holocaust survivor Muguette Myers visits Marymount Academy International
In this episode you'll hear all about that visit, as we chat with resource teacher Stacey Blumer, students Johanna Seligman and Sam Deljouy Toheidi, as well as Muguette Myers herself!
5 finalists have been announced for the 2022 J.I. Segal Award for best Jewish-themed book from Quebec
An eclectic mix of memoir, history and fiction describes the five recent books, two of them in French, shortlisted for the $5,000 J.I. Segal Award for Best Quebec Book on a Jewish Theme.
Cheltenham woman, a Holocaust survivor, pens memoir
Margalith Esterhuizen was born in Romania in 1927 to a Jewish family. In 1941, Esterhuizen and her family were forced from their home as the country aligned itself with Nazi Germany.
95-year-old Caledon Holocaust survivor writes memoir
At a time when most people are slowing down in their lives, Caledon resident Margalith Esterhuizen has been busy. The Holocaust survivor spent the last 10 years working on her memoir, A Light in the Clouds.
The Azrieli Foundation partners with the English Montreal School Board to teach Holocaust education across the district
The Azrieli Foundation’s Holocaust Survivor Memoirs Program has teamed up with the English Montreal School Board for its first board-wide partnership, and will bring the topic of the Holocaust to classrooms across the city as early as May 2022.
No Sweeter Tea
“We were the only survivors of a town wiped off the map forever.” - Pinchas Blitt
“Never Again”: 93-Year-Old Toronto Holocaust Survivor Shares Her Story of Auschwitz
International Holocaust Remembrance Day is observed on Jan. 27, the anniversary of the day in 1945 when the Auschwitz death camp was liberated. We mark this day annually because we can never forget what happened there and because the remembering moves us to vow “Never again.”
2021 National Jewish Book Award Winners
Jewish Book Council announced the winners of the 2021 National Jewish Book Awards, now in its seventy-first year. In all but one category, this year’s winning authors are all receiving their first National Jewish Book Award.
SJN: Pinchas Blitt publishes his memoirs thanks to the Azrieli Foundation
The Azrieli Foundation's decision to publish beloved Montrealer, Pinchas Blitt's memoir A Promise of Sweet Tea, into a new climate for Canadian Jews was not an accident. Following the July Segal Centre Virtual launch, the book is slowly winning wide literary acclaim.
TRADITION’s 2021 Book Endorsements: The Vale of Tears
Rabbi Pinchas Hirschprung (1912-1998) is well-known within the Torah world as one of the gedolei ha-dor of the previous generation, a magnanimous Torah scholar who served as the beloved Av Beth Din of Montreal for several decades, and one who was able to recite any page of the Talmud by heart. In his youth, he served as the bochen for the prestigious Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva under the leadership of the renowned Rabbi Meir Shapiro.
Excerpt: In Dreams Together
The destruction of the Hungarian Jewish communities in the last phase of World War II was one of the most efficient genocidal campaigns in history….
How a Holocaust Survivor Rediscovered Hope
An excerpt from Memories In Focus...
International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Spirituality, and Interfaith Dialogue
Holocaust survivor and author of Tapestry of Survival, Leslie Mezei, joins us this week on the Speakeasy podcast to discuss the continued importance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, spirituality and interfaith dialogue during our times and. Most importantly, Leslie speaks about life lessons he’s learned throughout his journey that we can apply to our lives today.
“Never Again”: 92-Year-Old Toronto Holocaust Survivor Shares Her Story of Auschwitz
Judy Weissenberg Cohen, a 92-year-old Toronto resident was 16 when the Nazis wrenched her from her home in Hungary and sent her to Auschwitz.
Why the Lessons of the Holocaust Matter Today
Jody Speigel, of the Azrieli Foundation Holocaust Survivor Memoirs Program, explains why remembering the Holocaust matters today.
International Holocaust Remembrance Day: Honouring those who lost their lives
Azrieli Foundation’s Jody Spiegel tells The Morning Show the significance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day and how families can remember those who lost their lives.
Fostering true understanding of the Holocaust means changing how we teach about it
Discussing Holocaust only through lessons we can learn from it turns it into a poorly understood metaphor...
Judy Cohen: Daunted but Undeterred
There are times in life when one hears about events so horrific that they can only describe them as ‘incredible’ or ‘unbelievable.’ Judy Cohen, a Holocaust survivor, shares what it was like to be a part of one of history’s blackest, most ‘unbelievable’ moments.
A Toronto woman with an incredible story just hit a big milestone.
Molly Applebaum is a Holocaust survivor and a published author. A virtual celebration was held Tuesday in her honour as she marked her 90th birthday. Talia Ricci has Applebaum’s incredible story.
In the Hour of Fate and Danger
Originally published in Hungary in 2003, Ferenc Andai’s memoir of his experience as a young man forced to labor in a Nazi-held copper mine in Bor, Serbia is an addition to the genre of Holocaust survivor literature in the vein of Primo Levi.
Writing for Those Who Can't
During World War II, Susan Garfield started writing in a diary. Now, the written words of a teenager are immortalized in a memoir for all to read.
Spiegel: Holocaust Must Be Taught as an Independent Event
In September 2018, the Azrieli Foundation, in partnership with the Claims Conference, commissioned a comprehensive study of Canadian knowledge and awareness of the Holocaust. The results, published in January of 2019, were alarming:
A Powerful Pilgrimage
Toronto man says trip to Auschwitz is about educating future generations
Auschwitz, 75 years later: What Canada’s survivors remember about the death camp’s horrors
As children, they were among more than one million people rounded up into the Nazis’ most infamous concentration camp. They lost family and found traumas that still haunt them in their 80s and 90s. These are their stories
Holocaust holograms: how survivors' stories live on through new technology
With survivors aging and dying, modern media provide a way to connect with youth
Canadian holocaust survivor reunited with baby he saved from Nazis when he was just a child
All he knew for sure until the filming of this documentary was that his effort to save a baby girl from certain death cost the life of his dearest friend...
‘They went in and they never came out’: Holocaust survivor shares story with Halifax audience
’The only visual memory Pinchas Gutter has of his twin sister, Sabina, is her blond braid as she hugged her mother before their family was sent into a Nazi concentration camp...
For Canadian survivor of Holocaust, this trip to Auschwitz is an act of defiance
For Johnny Jablon, making the trip to Poland for the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau is part of his revenge against his Nazi tormentors.