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.

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.

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.

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.

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)

Editor Shlomit Kriger and one of the Holocaust survivors from Toronto featured in Marking Humanity, John Freund, were interviewed on “Perspectives with Barry Shainbaum” on Faith FM (CJTW 94.3) in Kitchener, Ontario, on Nov. 7, 2010.

John was born in Czechoslovakia in June 1930. In 1942 the Nazis transported his family to the Terezin (Theresienstadt) ghetto, and at the end of 1943, to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp in Poland. He ended up being one of about 35 boys who survived the camp, but he found only an aunt from his father’s side still alive when he returned to his hometown.

Click here to listen to the interview (Length: 1 hour)   You may also view an audio visual of the interview.

On the following Sunday, Shlomit and Holocaust survivor Helen Drazek, whose poems are included in Marking Humanity, appeared on the Israeli Network’s “Together with Gila Yefet” talk show based in Toronto. Helen shared some of her Holocaust experiences as a child in the Warsaw ghetto in Poland and having later lived in hiding with a Christian family that helped her family. She also read excerpts from her writings. The women then discussed the importance of passing on the Holocaust education and lessons to future generations.

HOLOCAUST ANTHOLOGY PROVIDES INSIGHT FOR READERS, THERAPY FOR WRITERS

By Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO –Canadian journalist Shlomit Kriger has brought together the reflections, stories and poems of nearly 50 Holocaust survivors in an anthology that covers many aspects—and emotions—of the Shoah.  Marking Humanity could serve as an excellent secondary textbook in either a college class or in an advanced high school history class.

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