With every passing year, it becomes increasingly important to hear and reflect on the testimony of the survivors of the Holocaust who are still with us. This Friday, two different survivors will be sharing their stories with the Queen’s community as it marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27.

Queen’s Hillel is hosting one of these events—a Shabbat dinner with survivor David Moscovic—as well a series of events throughout the week to provide education about the Holocaust.

"The events that our Jewish student leadership at Queen's Hillel has organized for Holocaust Education Week reflect the need for the entire Queen's community to be further educated on the Holocaust, the causes, the effects and the testimonials from those who lived through it,” says Gili Golan, Political Studies ’24 and Director of External Relations, Queen’s Hillel. “The reality is that in a short amount of time, there will no longer be any firsthand accounts of the Holocaust, and it is our responsibility to continue passing on the truths of our family members."

Moscovic was born in the former Czechoslovakia in 1929 and survived internment in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps before being liberated in 1945. Moscovic then relocated to Canada and settled in Ottawa, where he raised his family.

Moscovic will share his testimony with attendees at a Shabbat Dinner on Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Beth Israel Synagogue. Hillel also held a student-led workshop on Monday that examined the motives of the perpetrators, bystanders, and collaborators of the Holocaust. On Wednesday they hosted a panel session during which students shared stories of how the Holocaust affected their families.

Learn more on the Queen’s Hillel Facebook page.

Survivor speaking at Queen’s School of Medicine

The Queen’s Jewish Medical Students Association and Jenna Healey, Jason A. Hannah Chair in the History of Medicine at Queen’s, will be hosting Kathleen Zahavi, the other survivor speaking on Friday. Zahavi was born in Hungary in 1929, and she was transported to Auschwitz in 1944 along with her parents and two sisters. Both parents died in Auschwitz, but the sisters survived and were sent to Dachau, then Bergen-Belsen, where they were liberated in 1945. Zahavi moved to Canada in 1959 with her husband and eldest daughter. She has two children and four grandchildren, one of whom is a student in the Queen’s School of Medicine. Zahavi will be speaking on Friday at 12:30 p.m. in the School of Medicine Building, Room 132A.

“There may not be very many years left where people will have the chance to hear firsthand testimony from survivors on International Holocaust Remembrance Day,” says Ashley Raudanskis, Queen’s medical student and executive member of the Queen’s Jewish Medical Student Association. “That makes Kathleen Zahavi’s visit to Queen’s a very important opportunity to reflect on the Holocaust, its victims, and its survivors with someone who lived through it.”

Alfred Bader Memorial Lecture focuses on Kindertransport effort

Bader College will be holding a series of events on Saturday Jan. 28 to reflect on the Holocaust, including the Alfred Bader Memorial Lecture. Barbara Warnock, Senior Curator and Head of Education at the Wiener Holocaust Library in London, will deliver this year’s lecture with a focus on the Kindertransport effort and how it affected children and their families. There will also be a workshop on fighting antisemitism. These events will take place at Herstmonceux Castle in the United Kingdom, and the broader Queen’s community is invited to join these events online.

Learn more on the Bader College Facebook page.