Tag: Holocaust

United Nations / UNESCO

The Holocaust

International Holocaust Remembrance Day is coming up on January 27. In Canada we observed Raoul Wallenberg Day on January 17. Join with us this month as we learn more about the Holocaust. Come down to the School Library to see the many books and other resources we have that deal with this horrific atrocity.

Raoul Wallenberg Day

Since 2001, January 15 is Raoul Wallenberg Day in Canada. Mr. Wallenberg was a hero who courageously used his position to save tens of thousands of Jews in Hungary during the Nazi Holocaust. Wallenberg was a Swedish diplomat working in Budapest during the Second World War. He and his colleagues, using Swedish passports, letters of protection and other diplomatic tools were able to help thousands of Jews to escape from Hungary and tens of thousands to survive through to the end of the war.

Tragically, Raoul Wallenberg disappeared after the Soviet conquest of Hungary from the Germans in 1945. Some reports suggest he died in a Soviet prison in 1947, but his fate is officially uncertain.

Raoul Wallenberg as a young man. _{(Source: https://www.raoulwallenbergcentre.org)}

Raoul Wallenberg is considered one of the “Righteous Among the Nations” by Yad Vashem in Israel, and was made an Honorary Citizen of Canada in 1985.

Find out more:

In January we both recognize Raoul Wallenberg Day in Canada, as well as International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27. Come down to the School Library this month, in person, and continue to visit us online, for more information on the horrific and tragic history of the Holocaust.

Yom HaShoah

Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, is the day that Jews around the world remember the six million who perished in the Holocaust. In Israel it is a national day of observance known officially as Yom Hazikaron laShoah ve-laG’vurah, in English “Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day.” In addition to remembrance of the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust, the day is also used to celebrate acts of resistance and heroism on the part of survivors and allies.

This year Yom HaShoah begins on the evening of April 27 and continues until sundown on April 28.

_{Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-N0827-318 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE via Wikimedia Commons}

Find out more about the Holocaust, the systematic mass-murder of more than 6 million Jews, and other groups, targeted by the Nazis and their allies:

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

The date of January 27 was chosen for this solemn observance as the death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated on January 27, 1945.

For more on the Holocaust:

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

United Nations / UNESCO

New Non-Fiction

Check out some of our newest non-fiction titles:

Yom HaShoah

Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, is the day that Jews around the world remember the six million who perished in the Holocaust. This year Yom HaShoah begins on the evening of April 7 and continues until sundown on April 8.

Find out more about the Holocaust, the systematic mass-murder of more than 6 million Jews, and other groups, targeted by the Nazis and their allies:

Documenting the Holocaust

The Holocaust is one of the most well documented events in history. Yet despite this, there are some who seek to distort or deny the facts of this terrible blight on human history. We must continue to fight against the evil that the Holocaust represents. To do so we must fight against lies, distortions and ignorance to ensure that the facts are preserved, as horrifying as the facts are, so that future generations know what happened, and what must never happen again.

#ProtectTheFacts is just one of many organizations dedicated to preserving the historical facts of the Holocaust, and fighting against the evil that is Holocaust denial or distortion. See more in the links below.

Come to the school library to find out more about the Holocaust. Check out some of the following resources:

Find out more:

United Nations Outreach Programme on the Holocaust

Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum

Yad Veshem World Holocaust Remembrance Center

Lest We Forget Photo Exhibition

International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

In 2005 the United Nations designated January 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The term “Holocaust” refers to the period in history in which the Nazi regime of Germany murdered over 6 million Jews, as well as millions of other victims, including Roma, homosexuals, people with physical and mental disabilities, and more. The Nazi persecution of the Jews began in the early 1930’s and reached its most horrific and brutal peak during the period of 1941-1945, as the Nazis adopted as official policy the “Final Solution,” the attempt at completely annihilating the entire Jewish population.

The date of January 27 was chosen for this solemn observance as the death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated on January 27, 1945.

For more on the Holocaust:

United Nations / UNESCO

Holocaust Survivor visits our School Library

We are very honoured to welcome Mr. Janos Benisz to the Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary School Library today for a presentation to English and Social Studies classes. Mr. Benisz is a survivor of the Holocaust, the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews and five million non-Jewish civilians by the Nazi regime and its collaborators in the years before and during the Second World War.

The visit of Mr. Benisz is made possible through a program of the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre. To find out more, please visit vhec.org

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

For more on the Holocaust:

Holocaust Memorial Day

By joe goldberg from Seattle, WA, USA (Half Mast) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons — source: CC-BY-SA-2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Also known as Yom HaShoah in Hebrew, this day is observed in Israel and in local communities throughout the Jewish Diaspora. It is a secular holiday, separate from the holy days of mourning in the religious calendar of Judaism.

More than 6 million Jews perished in the Holocaust.

For more information: