15th Annual Kleinmann Symposium on the Holocaust

Now in its fifteenth year, the Kleinmann Holocaust Symposium offers a daily program of lectures, films, and survivor accounts about the history and the horrors of the Holocaust.

Lectures throughout the week will address a variety of issues: Media and Genocide; French Youth during the Nazi Occupation; The Swastika: Origins and Appropriation of a Symbol; and “Did it Really Happen? Genocide and Denial”. One of the more unusual presentations will be “The Holocaust in Rock and Pop Music” by Scott Benarde who spent six years researching and writing Stars of David: Rock 'n' Roll's Jewish Stories, (Brandeis University Press, 2003) a book about the Jewish contribution to popular music from the 1950s through the present. In researching Stars of David he discovered that many prominent singers, songwriters and musicians were the children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors who had been profoundly affected by that, and that a good number of non-Jewish rockers had also felt compelled to tackle the subject in song.

One of the highlights of the Symposium will take place on Wednesday April 16th when Toronto composer Ruth Fazal visits Vanier to speak about her monumental choral work Oratorio Terezin based on poetry written by children who perished at Auschwitz. CBC Radio’s Kelly Rice will host the Ruth Fazal presentation, and the Vanier Choir will sing excerpts from the Oratorio. The Montreal Premiere of the Oratorio Terezin will be performed on Sunday, May 4 at Place des Arts in a Benefit Concert for the Vanier College Foundation.

Another high point of the Symposium is the opening of “Neighbours Who Disappeared” a travelling exhibit from the Jewish Museum in Prague, consisting of photos and mixed media works by school children from all regions of the Czech Republic. The exhibit explores what happened to the Czech Jewish community during the Holocaust.

Several Holocaust survivors such as Dr Rudolf Roden who as a teenager was imprisoned in the concentration camp of Theresienstadt (Terezin), will tell students their personal stories. As well a series of films that will be screened, include the award-winning “Prisoner of Paradise,” with director Malcolm Clarke, in attendance.

The Holocaust Symposium which addresses genocide in its many forms will also examine the crisis in Darfur with Tara Tavender, from Save Darfur Canada which is a national coalition of organizations undertaking Darfur advocacy by influencing public policy regarding Canadian engagement in Darfur and raising public awareness about the Darfur crisis.

For the complete schedule of events consult: www.vaniercollege.qc.ca

(Source: Vanier College)