Confronting Genocide: 1915-2011 is the theme of the 18th Annual Kleinmann Family Foundation Symposium. The underlying aim of the Symposium, which runs at Vanier from April 4th to 8th, is to alert young people to discrimination, racism and genocide in their many manifestations, and to help them learn about history in order to avoid repeating mistakes of the past. Eyewitness and first-hand accounts are often the best motivators to spark students into awareness, concern and action, and we are fortunate to have among us Holocaust survivors and one rescuer to offer their stirring personal testimonies. This year’s lineup also includes a remarkable new film, The Last Survivor, a feature documentary that focuses on the survivors of four different genocides and mass atrocities (the Holocaust, Rwanda, Darfur, and Congo) and their struggle to make sense of their tragedy by working to educate, motivate and promulgate a civic response to mass atrocity crimes. One of the main strengths of the Symposium, in my view, is the way that important real-life lessons about ethical citizenship and moral courage find their way into the classroom. Participating students and teachers alike wrestle with these challenges in the context of their courses in psychology, sociology, English, Humanities, journalism, and history. The events listed below take place in ongoing courses; they are open to all, but seating may be limited. As always, we are grateful for the generous support of the Burman-Wajcer Foundation, the VCTA and VCSA and the teamwork of many services within the Vanier community.

~Neil Caplan

Three young Montrealers set out to document the tiny Jewish communities of the Dominican Republic - said to be fragmented and fading. What they uncover are the ties that bind people to their identity. A journey of hope for communities looking toward the future.

Trailer:

The Armenian Genocide of 1915-1918, occurring in relatively remote Anatolia, remained little known to much of the outside world, so much so that it inspired Hitler, when planning the destruction of Poland, to remark: “ Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians.” Genocide survivors including my own family wanted only to forget and spoke little of their horrific experiences. Focusing on the case of one Armenian village in the Ottoman Empire we will examine how the children and grandchildren of survivors have tried to “recover memory,” to find out what happened to their families and why, to make known the first genocide of the 20th century. Recently, at the Vanier Social Sciences Festival of October 2007, he presented a powerful multimedia lecture entitled Adolf Hitler and the Politics of Image: Propaganda and Spectacle in Nazi Germany. Using film clips and still photographs, Mr Najarian presented a fascinating depiction of a hateful regime using very sophisticated devices to achieve their ideological goals.

When the Nazis came for him, 15-year-old Paul Herczeg was a fifth-generation Hungarian Jew, very assimilated into the life of suburban Budapest. During the dark, hopeless days in the camps, an important incentive to survive was to be able to tell the world afterward what happened, as well as to honour and remember those who didn't make it. Paul Herczeg provides his eyewitness, first-person account of history in an effort to help tomorrow's leaders avoid repeating the horrors of the past.

Gregor Brunner, a 22-year-old Austrian Gedenkdiener, is currently educating young Quebecers about the atrocities his former countrymen committed during the Holocaust. The Gedenkdienst program was founded by Dr Andreas Maislinger, a political scientist from Innsbruck, Austria who had worked as a volunteer at the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum, where he conceived of the program. In 1991, the Austrian government enacted legislation and Andreas Maislinger began organizing what became known as the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service program (Gedenkdienst). The intent of the program is to recognize Austria’s role in the collective responsibility for the Holocaust and the responsibility of each and every one of us to ensure that it “never again” happens. It is less than 25 years since the Austrian government has recognized their role as perpetrators of the Nazi genocide, having abandoned their previous position that they were the first victims of the Nazis. During Gregor’s tenure as an intern at the Kleinmann Family Foundation he has presented a unique multi-media educational program, Moral Responsibility: Witnesses for the Future in several Cegep and high school classes throughout Montreal. The Shoah as well as the Armenian and Rwandan genocides are used as paradigms to address the contemporary need to oppose the worldwide threat engendered by ignorance, indifference, discrimination, racism, and moral cowardice.

When the Nazis came for him, 15-year-old Paul Herczeg was a fifth-generation Hungarian Jew, very assimilated into the life of suburban Budapest. During the dark, hopeless days in the camps, an important incentive to survive was to be able to tell the world afterward what happened, as well as to honour and remember those who didn't make it. Paul Herczeg provides his eyewitness, first-person account of history in an effort to help tomorrow's leaders avoid repeating the horrors of the past.

Gregor Brunner, a 22-year-old Austrian Gedenkdiener, is currently educating young Quebecers about the atrocities his former countrymen committed during the Holocaust. The Gedenkdienst program was founded by Dr Andreas Maislinger, a political scientist from Innsbruck, Austria who had worked as a volunteer at the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum, where he conceived of the program. In 1991, the Austrian government enacted legislation and Andreas Maislinger began organizing what became known as the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service program (Gedenkdienst). The intent of the program is to recognize Austria’s role in the collective responsibility for the Holocaust and the responsibility of each and every one of us to ensure that it “never again” happens. It is less than 25 years since the Austrian government has recognized their role as perpetrators of the Nazi genocide, having abandoned their previous position that they were the first victims of the Nazis. During Gregor’s tenure as an intern at the Kleinmann Family Foundation he has presented a unique multi-media educational program, Moral Responsibility: Witnesses for the Future in several Cegep and high school classes throughout Montreal. The Shoah as well as the Armenian and Rwandan genocides are used as paradigms to address the contemporary need to oppose the worldwide threat engendered by ignorance, indifference, discrimination, racism, and moral cowardice.

Born in Holland in March 1938, during the week of the German invasion and occupation of Austria know as the Anschluss, Yehudi Lindeman was four years old when he went into hiding. “It was the beginning of an itinerant existence that would take me to at least fifteen different locations, none of them stable or permanent. I stayed at several other farms, both poor and prosperous, at a dentist’s house, a flower shop, a butter factory, the list goes on and on, and I don’t even remember all of them. The only sense of stability I felt was when yet another stranger, some young man or woman (a courier working for the resistance, no doubt), would take me once again to a new place of hiding, usually on the back of a bicycle."

Gregor Brunner, a 22-year-old Austrian Gedenkdiener, is currently educating young Quebecers about the atrocities his former countrymen committed during the Holocaust. The Gedenkdienst program was founded by Dr Andreas Maislinger, a political scientist from Innsbruck, Austria who had worked as a volunteer at the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum, where he conceived of the program. In 1991, the Austrian government enacted legislation and Andreas Maislinger began organizing what became known as the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service program (Gedenkdienst). The intent of the program is to recognize Austria’s role in the collective responsibility for the Holocaust and the responsibility of each and every one of us to ensure that it “never again” happens. It is less than 25 years since the Austrian government has recognized their role as perpetrators of the Nazi genocide, having abandoned their previous position that they were the first victims of the Nazis. During Gregor’s tenure as an intern at the Kleinmann Family Foundation he has presented a unique multi-media educational program, Moral Responsibility: Witnesses for the Future in several Cegep and high school classes throughout Montreal. The Shoah as well as the Armenian and Rwandan genocides are used as paradigms to address the contemporary need to oppose the worldwide threat engendered by ignorance, indifference, discrimination, racism, and moral cowardice.

When the Nazis came for him, 15-year-old Paul Herczeg was a fifth-generation Hungarian Jew, very assimilated into the life of suburban Budapest. During the dark, hopeless days in the camps, an important incentive to survive was to be able to tell the world afterward what happened, as well as to honour and remember those who didn't make it. Paul Herczeg provides his eyewitness, first-person account of history in an effort to help tomorrow's leaders avoid repeating the horrors of the past.

WEDNESDAY APRIL 6

Matthieu Sossoyan has been teaching anthropology at Vanier College in Montreal since 1999. He received his MA from McGill University. His Master's thesis discussed the participation of the Kahnawake Iroquois in the Patriot Rebellions of 1837-38. In addition to ethnohistory and the relations between modern-day Quebecers and First Nations people, Mr. Sossoyan is keenly interested in archaeology, as demonstrated by his involvement in archaeological digs in Quebec and France. As an undergraduate student in Anthropology at Université de Montréal, he participated in several archeological excavations near Valleyfield, Quebec (Native American history, prehistory of Quebec) and Vincennes, France (Middle-Ages). The more informal (but nonetheless real and not simulated) archeological digs that he has conducted on the Vanier campus for the past two years are intended to illustrate the goals and methods of archeology, and to provide awareness and information about the 200 year-old history of the cultural environment of Vanier College. He also is the Editor-in-Chief and one of the primary researchers of the fascinating and comprehensive website. Matthieu Sossoyan's powerpoint presentation is truly an eye-opener. Highly original and thought-provoking, it offers an anthropologist's cross-cultural perspective to help us grapple with our historical and contemporary concerns about the Nazis' and neo-Nazis' appropriation and use of the ancient symbol for purposes of mobilizing the forces of hatred. This talk has been offered at Vanier for several years, and also by invitation at other Montreal and Vancouver BC colleges.

WEDNESDAY APRIL 6

The Last Survivor is a feature-length documentary that follows the lives of survivors of four different genocides and mass atrocities: the Holocaust, Rwanda, Darfur, and Congo. The film tells the stories of survivors and their struggle to make sense of their tragedy by working to educate, motivate and promulgate a civic response to mass atrocity crimes. Showing how these survivors have become powerful agents of change, The Last Survivor offers viewers a unique opportunity to learn from the lessons and mistakes of our past in order to have a lasting impact on how we act collectively in the face of similar challenges today.

Born at the start of WW II in Warsaw, Poland, Eva survived the war by a series of miraculous events involving luck, coincidence and the courage and faith of several individuals, both family members and virtual strangers. She immigrated to Canada with her family in 1949 where she grew up "practically Canadian" with the history of the Holocaust always there in the background. She was educated at Sir George Williams University and Concordia, spending the major part of her work life in education and educational administration. Eva has taught children and adults in a variety of settings from pre-school centres and schools to Vanier College and Concordia University, and was Principal of one branch of Jewish Peoples' and Peretz Schools. She has also led workshops on a range of topics dealing with human development and education. In this talk, Eva will present the film Hidden Children, Unknown Heroes (2009).

THURSDAY APRIL7

The Last Survivor is a feature-length documentary that follows the lives of survivors of four different genocides and mass atrocities: the Holocaust, Rwanda, Darfur, and Congo. The film tells the stories of survivors and their struggle to make sense of their tragedy by working to educate, motivate and promulgate a civic response to mass atrocity crimes. Showing how these survivors have become powerful agents of change, The Last Survivor offers viewers a unique opportunity to learn from the lessons and mistakes of our past in order to have a lasting impact on how we act collectively in the face of similar challenges today.

Born in Holland in March 1938, during the week of the German invasion and occupation of Austria know as the Anschluss, Yehudi Lindeman was four years old when he went into hiding. “It was the beginning of an itinerant existence that would take me to at least fifteen different locations, none of them stable or permanent. I stayed at several other farms, both poor and prosperous, at a dentist’s house, a flower shop, a butter factory, the list goes on and on, and I don’t even remember all of them. The only sense of stability I felt was when yet another stranger, some young man or woman (a courier working for the resistance, no doubt), would take me once again to a new place of hiding, usually on the back of a bicycle."

FRIDAY APRIL 8

12:00-1:00 Survivor Testimony: Musia Schwartz
My Many identities as the persecuted 'other' [N536]