Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center

What if Hitler had social media? Tomorrow at 4 PM, FSWC and Reena Foundation will be delivering an interactive workshop on the power of propaganda used by the Nazis. Join us for this inclusive learning experience. If you haven't already done so, register to experience this and many other programs at Liberation75. www.liberation75.org

Tomorrow on In Conversation with a Survivor, Holocaust survivor Vera Schiff will be sharing her story of love, loss and resistance in Theresienstadt. Join us to hear her powerful testimony. Register by emailing [email protected]

We welcome this news and commend Canada's government for its protection of public safety by designating Proud Boys as a terrorist entity. Hate groups remain a serious concern and threat, however, and our leaders and all Canadians must be ever more vigilant.

Diplomats and community leaders from Canada, Morocco, Israel and the U.S. came together yesterday to celebrate a new exciting partnership between Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center and Association Mimouna, an organization dedicated to honouring and preserving Morocco’s rich Jewish heritage. We are thrilled to be working together on our many shared goals and aspirations, including combating antisemitism and other forms of hate, providing Holocaust education, and delivering public education highlighting the important role of the Jewish community in the history and heritage of Morocco and other Arab countries.

This month we mark Jewish Heritage Month! Canada is home to the fourth-largest Jewish population in the world. During the month of May, we celebrate the Jewish community's many incredible achievements and contributions made to society throughout history.

A disturbing display of antisemitism and neo-Nazism in Madrid. We support the call by Jewish leaders in Spain for prosecutors to launch an investigation into incitement to violence and discrimination.

According to TDSB's Human Rights Annual Report, Toronto schools experienced an almost 400 per cent increase in hate incidents last year, with antisemitic incidents doubling and anti-Black racism accounting for the majority of incidents. "The report’s findings are very concerning and confirm the enduring and urgent need for schools to incorporate education that addresses racism, antisemitism and all forms of hate," said FSWC president and CEO Michael Levitt.

Thrilled to announce our contest winners! Thank you to everyone who participated and congratulations to all the educators across Canada whose classrooms will be taking part in this new and exclusive virtual program in recognition of Black History Month and Red Hand Day.

Yesterday, FSWC and The Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights hosted another session of In Conversation with a Survivor, this time featuring residential school survivor Delores Kelly. In case you missed it, you can watch Delores share her heart-wrenching and impactful story here.

A 100-year-old former Nazi guard has been charged with 3,518 counts of being an accessory to murder. This comes after a 95-year-old former Nazi concentration camp secretary was charged with complicity in the murders of 10,000 people last week. "The advanced age of the defendants is no excuse to ignore them and allow them to live in the peace and tranquility they denied their victims," said Efraim Zuroff, Simon Wiesenthal Center's chief Nazi hunter.

Join us on December 2 for another session of In Conversation with a Survivor, hosted by FSWC and The Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, with special guest Holocaust survivor Andy Reti. Register today by emailing [email protected].

We join B'nai Brith Canada and other community institutions in calling out the Quebec government's absurd double standard. All faith communities should be treated equally and be handed the same restrictions when it comes to celebrating holidays.

Earlier this week, Holocaust survivor Leonard Vis joined us virtually to share his testimony as part of the bi-weekly In Conversation with a Survivor speaker series, hosted by FSWC and The Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. Watch him share his powerful story.

On this day 75 years ago, the Nuremberg trials began in Germany. For the first time, Nazi leaders were tried and prosecuted for their roles in war crimes, including crimes against humanity committed during the Holocaust.

FSWC joined CIJA and B'nai Brith Canada in expressing deep disappointment with the Canadian government’s decision today to vote in favour of a U.N. General Assembly resolution that affirms Palestinian self-determination, while failing to affirm Jewish self-determination in the indigenous and ancestral homeland of the Jewish people, intentionally erasing historical Jewish connections to Jerusalem including the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site.