Holocaust Survivors Day

by guest blogger Harvey Goldberg

Holocaust Survivors Day, held on June 4, is an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the resilience, courage, and strength of Holocaust survivors.

The Holocaust, known as the Shoah, was the Nazi assault aimed at annihilating the Jews of Europe through systematic murder. Six million Jews were murdered — two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish population, amounting to one-third of the world’s Jews. Many others, including Roma and Sinti, people with disabilities, gay men and lesbians, and political prisoners, were also victims. Today, more than 81 years after World War II, the world Jewish population remains below its 1939 level.

The remnant of European Jewry faced unimaginable challenges in rebuilding their lives after the destruction of communities where Jews had lived for centuries. Yet they rebuilt, creating families, communities, institutions, and new lives, setting an enduring example of courage, perseverance, and hope.

Approximately 35,000–40,000 Holocaust survivors resettled in Canada after World War II. They became a part of Canadian life and Jewish communities which had earlier become established, starting in the late 19th century. Several hundred Survivors made their home in Ottawa.

The majority of survivors who settled in Ottawa are no longer living, but their legacy is upheld by their second and third generations and their Jewish communities. I had the privilege of knowing some of Ottawa’s survivors and hearing first-hand their stories of survival and rebuilding.

After escaping the Holocaust, they were burdened by trauma and uncertain of their place in Canada until they established themselves, but then went on to rebuild their lives, careers, and families. With the support of the Jewish community, many survivors later became active in preserving the memory of the victims and speaking about what had happened, with every survival story being unique and often heroic. They aimed to bring a warning to society never to allow the evils of discrimination and persecution to flourish, in the way that civilized Europe had been engulfed.

Many spoke in schools, universities, public events, and annual memorials. Some Survivors living around the world also wrote memoirs or gave oral testimony. In Ottawa, the Centre for Holocaust Education and Scholarship (CHES) at Carleton University, developed a video library of Ottawa survivors’ testimonies and is currently on the frontlines of combatting antisemitism. School curricula are now beginning to incorporate the narratives of Holocaust survivors.

In my experience, the survivors I knew were tough, practical, and resilient people. Although the dark clouds of their experiences never completely disappeared, they built meaningful lives, families, and communities, and contributed greatly to Canadian society. Their greatest legacy may be the example they set that even in the face of immense evil, human beings still retain the freedom to choose their moral path.

To those who survived, to the few still living among us, and to those who have passed, June 4 is a day to honour their lives, celebrate their contributions, and express our gratitude for the gifts they gave to future generations.

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” Holocaust survivor and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl in Man’s Search for Meaning.