Holocaust Event at Hillel at Ryerson November 2015

Marking Humanity‘s editor, Shlomit Kriger, and Holocaust survivor Andy Réti connected with dozens of professors and students of various backgrounds at the Hillel students loft at Ryerson University in Toronto on Nov. 10, 2015. Andy related his experience as a child in Hungary and his continued efforts to educate others through his talks and the Ride to Remember annual motorcycle rally. Shlomit shared lessons from the Holocaust and additional survivors featured in the book. The group then participated in a discussion about discrimination, standing up to injustice, and peacebuilding. Students were encouraged to note what they learned or would consider moving forward through an expressive arts response activity. Here is a photo of some of the responses, which have been put on display at Hillel.

InteractiveActivity-StudentResponses2

You can read more about Andy’s experience in this article featured in Ryerson’s newspaper (then titled The Ryersonian). You can also view a clip of Andy’s presentation and a short interview he and his daughter Kathy did with student reporter Ban Ibrahim in this video.

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Interview on “Marking Humanity” Book on The Authors Show May 2012

Curious about how Marking Humanity can transform readers’ lives? Why was it created, and why now? How have the survivors’ experiences affected their outlook on humanity? Editor Shlomit Kriger discussed all this and more in an interview on The Authors Show. The Internet radio interview, with host Don McCauley, had been broadcast and available for replays throughout May 21 and 22, 2012.

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Interview on Tamar Yonah Show in Israel in honour of Holocaust Remembrance Day April 2012

In honour of Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah) that began on the eve of Apr. 18, 2012, Shlomit Kriger spoke about the Marking Humanity Holocaust book on the Tamar Yonah Show on Israel National Radio (Arutz 7). She conversed with Tamar about the purpose of creating this type of book, the Holocaust’s effects on the survivors, and the lessons from that significant time. Toward the end, she read an excerpt from a poem by survivor George Scott (originally Spiegel), who was merely a teenager when he ended up at the Sarvar concentration camp and was later transported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp in Poland.

Click here to listen to the interview (Length: 14 minutes)

You may also view an audio visual version of the interview.

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Marking Humanity Available at Libraries

Did you know that the Marking Humanity Holocaust anthology book is already available at numerous libraries at postsecondary schools and Holocaust museums locally and internationally? We are grateful for all of the support and positive feedback received thus far. The book has recently also been picked up by some of the public libraries in Toronto, Canada. If you would like to be able to borrow this book from your library, whether locally or abroad, you could ask the administrative staff to order a copy by simply providing the book title, editor’s name, and the ISBN number 978-0-9864770-0-3.

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Marking Humanity Event at Barbara Frum Library – November 2011

Editor Shlomit Kriger connected with a mixed audience at Toronto’s Barbara Frum Library on Nov. 30, 2011 for the latest Marking Humanity Holocaust book event, which also featured survivors John Freund and Ghita Malvina. Both survivors faced extremely difficult situations at various concentration camps, including Auschwitz-Birkenau, and witnessed the brutal murder of many others. They have remained resilient and are spreading lessons from the Holocaust and messages of peace to others. In the words of 91-year-old Ghita Malvina, “Love, freedom, and friendship are the most important things in the world. Each person on Earth can and has to contribute something good in order to make our world safer.”

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Book Event at Sephardic Kehila Centre – June 2011

On June 21, 2011, an audience at the Sephardic Kehila Centre in Thornhill, Ontario, beared witness as Marking Humanity‘s editor, Shlomit Kriger, and two of the survivors featured in the book, Andy Réti and Sophie Soil, gave an intimate presentation about the Holocaust and its lessons at an event held by the Iraqi Jewish Association of Ontario. Both Andy and Sophie were young children during the Holocaust and have remained particularly struck by how the Nazi-perpetrated atrocities affected their parents. Andy showed a photo of his late mother, Ibi, as well as the wedding ring from Ibi’s first marriage to his father, who he never got to know. Although the Nazis confiscated jewellery and other valuables from the Jews, Ibi had managed to save the ring by hiding it in her baby’s diaper.

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Interview on ThatChannel’s Liquid Lunch Show – June 2, 2011

Editor Shlomit Kriger and one of the Holocaust survivors from Toronto featured in Marking Humanity, George Scott, were interviewed on the Liquid Lunch show on ThatChannel.com in Ontario, Canada, on June 2, 2011.

Born in Hungary in 1930, George Scott (originally Spiegel) was a teenager when the Nazis transported him to the Sarvar concentration camp and later to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp in Poland. Although he survived the Holocaust, he lost five of his mother’s six sisters and all of their children and husbands, as well as his grandparents, who had raised him after his father died when he was only a year old. With aid from the Canadian Jewish Congress and other agencies that assisted child survivors, he made his way to Canada in 1948. After meeting Shlomit in 2008, full of zest for life and appreciation for what he had, he inspired her to collect writings from Holocaust survivors and was the first person to contribute pieces for Marking Humanity.

Click here to watch the interview (Length: 20 minutes)

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Aish Thornhill Holocaust Remembrance Event – May 1, 2011

On May 1, 2011, Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Aish Thornhill Community Shul in Ontario, Canada, held its third annual commemoration in memory of those lost and in honour of those who survived. Marking Humanity‘s editor, Shlomit Kriger, and three of the survivors featured in the book — Helen Drazek, George Scott, and Simcha Simchovitch — addressed the audience of about 250 people, educating and inspiring them with personal experiences and writings as well as some thoughts on the meaning of Never Again.

The Jewish Tribune included mention of this event in a recent article.

Click here to watch some highlights from the presentation

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