| UJA Federation of Greater Toronto is the Neuberger's sustaining supporter. UJA is proud to support the Neuberger's world-class programming during Holocaust Education Week and its year-round educational and remembrance programs. |  |
ILLUMINATING THE SHADOWS: Untold Stories of the Holocaust
With millions of pages of historical documents, photographs and film recorded by perpetrators, victims and rescuers, along with thousands of hours of recorded testimony from survivors as well as perpetrators, the Holocaust is the most documented case of genocide in the world. Yet much remains unknown, awaiting discovery.
This year’s program sheds light on untold stories, new research, and marginalized histories of the Holocaust. HEW 2018 creates a platform for them to be heard and understood, expanding the familiar picture and leading us to a more robust and complex understanding of the multidimensional nature of the Holocaust.
The postwar trials, the opening of the Red Cross archives through the International Tracing Service, and the fall of communism in Eastern Europe which enabled scholars to access Soviet-era holdings, all contributed to new insights into the complexity and context of how the Holocaust unfolded. Yet even with access to these extensive collections, much remains unknown, awaiting discovery.
Few, if any, could have predicted that Raoul Hilberg’s 1200-page opus The Destruction of the European Jews would inspire a new academic field. Published in 1961, it illuminated a new generation of scholarship and inspired the discipline known as Holocaust Studies. Now a recognized discipline for academic study, remembrance of the Holocaust has permeated the cultural, cinematic and literary spheres and educating about the Holocaust has been integrated into the school system.
Yet, why do we choose to promote certain stories above others? Why are some experiences overlooked or excluded from the canon? Why do we know so much about the Diary of Anne Frank, but few recognize the name of Yitzhak Rudashevski? Why have certain types of experiences become synonymous with the Holocaust – the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, gas chambers, the Warsaw Ghetto – but others are much less familiar? These are just some of the questions HEW 2018 seeks to respond to while illuminating lesser-known aspects of the Holocaust.
About HEW
Holocaust Education Week is the Neuberger's annual signature program. Cited by scholars as one of the most comprehensive vehicles for Holocaust education and remembrance in the world, it has been recognized as a “Best Practice” in the field by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance(IHRA).
Welcome to Holocaust Education Week
Lisa Richman, HEW Co-Chair
Image at left: Letter and bread charms from Marketa Brady to her children, Hana and George. Marketa Brady was sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp in 1941 and eventually deported to Auschwitz in October 1942 where she was killed. While in Ravensbrück, Marketa was rarely allowed to send letters home. In one of these letters, she included in the envelope a gift for her two children and their cousin Vera. Marketa had made charms out of the only possession she had; her rationed bread. Image courtesy Brady Family.