Category: Holocaust

Toronto Holocaust Museum Opens, Shares Stories of Dozens of Survivors

A new museum that features stories from more than 70 Holocaust survivors has opened in Toronto, with the aim of sharing their experiences and combating antisemitism. The Toronto Holocaust Museum, which received funding from the federal and provincial governments as well as donors, features themed galleries, a theatre and educational programming. Ontario Premier Doug Ford encouraged…


Kraków Weaves a Vibrant Cultural Tapestry

Kraków is the Boston of Poland—a charming and vital city buzzing with history, college students, and tourists. Though not the capital, Kraków is the cultural and intellectual center of the country—and easily Poland’s best destination. At the center of the Old Town is the Main Market Square, one of Europe’s most gasp-worthy public spaces, and…


Fullerton School District Removes Nazi Symbols from Sixth-Grade ‘Sound of Music’ Play

A Fullerton School District school opted this week to remove Nazi symbols from their sixth-graders’ performance of the play “The Sound of Music.” The play, set in Austria at the beginning of World War II, tells the true story of a family who must flee their country as the Nazis invade. District Superintendent Rob Pletka…


Book Recommendation: ‘My Mother’s Secret’

“Love is the only thing that you get more of when you give it away” is the last sentence of chapter 64 of “My Mother’s Secret” by J. L. Witterick. The 2013 novel “based on a true Holocaust story,” as the subhead reads, oozes that sentiment throughout its 208 pages. While countless nonfiction and fiction…


Jewish Groups Criticize Second Gentleman’s Comparison of Anger at School Board Meetings to Holocaust Hatred

Jewish organizations have condemned Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff for comparing anger at school board meetings to hatred surrounding the Holocaust. Recalling his recent visit to Europe, Emhoff told MSNBC host Symone Sanders that his experience meeting a Holocaust survivor—now a Ukrainian refugee in Germany following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—made him think of a parallel between the…


Holocaust Survivor Sees Parallels Between Nazi Germany and Approach to COVID Pandemic

Holocaust survivor, Vera Sharav, directed a documentary series drawing parallels between what happened under the Nazi regime in the 1930s and the recent policies under COVID-19. Sharav’s first film, “Never Again is Now Global,” was launched on Jan. 30. It is a five-part series of interviews with holocaust survivors as well as children and grandchildren…


Shlomo Perel, Holocaust Survivor, Film Subject, Dies at 98

JERUSALEM—Shlomo Perel, who survived the Holocaust through surreal subterfuge and an extraordinary odyssey that inspired his own writing and an internationally renowned film, died on Thursday in central Israel. He was 98. Perel was born in 1925 to a Jewish family in Brunswick, Germany, just several years before the Nazis came to power. He and…


100-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor Recalls Surviving 12 Concentration Camps

Joseph Alexander, who just turned 100, travels to schools and museums across the state recalling his experiences of surviving the Holocaust. He’s even been immortalized in Steven Spielberg’s 1996 documentary, “Survivors of The Holocaust.” The Los Angeles resident recently spoke in front of a crowd of over 200, at Newport Beach’s Chabad Center for Jewish…


Victorian Holocaust Survivors Call for Salute Ban

Holocaust survivors are calling on the Victorian premier to ban the Nazi salute, saying the gesture brings back the memories and pain of millions of Jewish people murdered. The push for change on International Holocaust Remembrance Day follows a spate of recent incidents in the state – among them, neo-Nazi leader Thomas Sewell giving the salute…


Against All Odds: Surviving the Holocaust | Documentary

This cinematic film focuses on Holocaust survivor stories outside the concentration camps and the living among the general population. Each day was uncertain, and Jews were hunted like animals. Discovery almost always meant death. …