A gathering of Holocaust survivors and their children living in Canada will take place in Ottawa April 28-30, under the auspices of Canadian Jewish Congress. Organizers are expecting a turnout of 3,000 persons.
In addition to commemorating the 40th anniversary of the end of World War II and the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust, the Gathering has serveral other objectives: the contribution of the Canadian armed forces in the struggle against Nazism will be recognized; appreciation will be expressed to Canada for giving survivors the opportunity to rebuild their lives in this country; non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews will be honored.
Aba Beer, president of the Gathering, said it also hoped the Gathering will “raise the consciousness of the Canadian people to the consequences of racism and discrimination and to ensure that the lesson of the Holocaust is not forgotten or perverted.”
Participants will express their solidarity with the Jewish people throughout the world and with the State of Israel, and their commitment to the principles of “world peace, freedom, justice, democracy and equality,” he said.
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney has been invited and is expected to attend the Gathering. Scheduled speakers are Nazi war criminal hunters Beate and Serge Klarsfeld; Jan Nowak, a Polish resistance fighter and human rights activist; and Gretta Fischer, a United Nations social worker who worked in the concentration camps to rehabilitate displaced children.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE GATHERING
The Gathering will open with a wreath-laying ceremony at the Cenotaph where addresses will be given by government representatives. The three plenary sessions will be on the topics of anti-Semitism in Canada, hate propaganda and how to take action on these issues. Workshops will deal with such subjects as prosecution of war criminals living in Canada, combatting the portrayal of the Holocaust as a hoax, the religious response to and teaching of the Holocaust, and psychosocial concerns of survivors and their children.
A highlight will be a “survivors’ village,” modeled after the one at the Washington Holocaust survivors gathering in 1983, where survivors can reunite with persons they may not have seen since liberation.
The honorary chairmen of the gathering are Louis Rasminsky, a former governor of the Bank of Canada; prominent Reform Rabbi Gunther Plaut; and Judge Rosalie Abella, of the Ontario Provincial Court.
Beer says it is difficult to determine how many survivors live in Canada today, but he estimates there are at least 20,000. Children of survivors — the second generation — have played an integral role in the organization of the gathering.
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