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Auschwitz liberation remembered |
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Written by Rebeca Kuropatwa
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Wednesday, 03 February 2010 |
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Winnipeg – Jan. 27 is the date of the liberation of Auschwitz, and is commemorated around the world as the United Nations International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
On this date in 2010, B’nai Brith Canada held candle-lighting memorial ceremonies in Toronto, Winnipeg and Edmonton to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet troops on Jan 27, 1945.
At the Winnipeg event Alan Yusim, B’nai Brith Canada Regional Director, noted the significance of how, on this same day, at the Forks in downtown Winnipeg, Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHU) held bilateral and roundtable discussions as part of the museum’s content and story gathering on the cross-Canada tour.
“Some of these discussions revealed there are groups opposed to a permanent place in the museum for the Holocaust, challenging its significance and uniqueness in humankind’s history of inhumanity,” said Yusim.
“We must ensure the museum’s content and stories include a permanent component dedicated and devoted exclusively to the Holocaust,” he added. “Let this be a day we rededicate ourselves to the fight against hate and antisemitism in all forms.”
El Malei Rachamim was sung by Gustavo Levy, and Kaddish was read by Viviana Finklestein. The event closed with Carla Divinsky of the Holocaust Education Centre reading a statement by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
In Toronto, Ruth Klein, executive director of the National Task Force on Holocaust Education Remembrance and Research and the national director of the League for Human Rights, gave opening remarks, followed by a memorial prayer by Captain Rabbi Lazer Danziger, chaplain of 25 (Toronto) Service Battalion, and a candle lighting ceremony. Rabbi Danziger closed the ceremony with Kaddish.
Frank Dimant, CEO of B’nai Brith Canada, spoke at the Toronto ceremony. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 10 February 2010 )
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