Centre for Holocaust Education and Scholarship

In 1938, Les Grumach’s father received a tallit for his bar mitzvah in Berlin, Germany.

It was meant to mark a moment of faith, family, and coming of age.

Later that same year, on Kristallnacht, his synagogue was burned.

A few days after the destruction, he returned to the shul and rescued the family tallits from what remained.

By then, the Grumach family had already been forced to sell their timber mill in Königsberg. They moved to Berlin, hoping a larger Jewish community might offer more safety. In 1939, they received visas and left Germany for Melbourne, Australia.

Les Grumach’s father continued to wear his burned tallit with pride.

Today, the Grumach Family Tallits are part of CHES’s Virtual Holocaust Museum digital collection. They are more than objects. They are evidence of what was taken, what was carried, and what survived.

For educators, artifacts like these help students understand Holocaust history through the personal belongings, family stories, and acts of remembrance that remain.

Click the link to explore the Virtual Holocaust Museum: https://virtualholocaustmuseum.ca/

Kati Morrison was four years old when her family was forced out of their apartment in Budapest.

She remembered their belongings were loaded onto a wagon. A place that had once felt safe was no longer theirs.

Her family moved into a designated Jewish house marked with a star. Parks were forbidden. The yellow star had to be worn. Life became smaller, more restricted, and more dangerous, but her family still took in strangers and helped them.

Kati Morrison was four years old when her family was forced out of their apartment in Budapest.

She remembered their belongings were loaded onto a wagon. A place that had once felt safe was no longer theirs.

Her family moved into a designated Jewish house marked with a star. Parks were forbidden. The yellow star had to be worn. Life became smaller, more restricted, and more dangerous, but her family still took in strangers and helped them.

Later that year, both of Kati’s parents were taken away.

Find the full video and more first-hand accounts at the link in our bio.

As the school year comes to a close, many educators are already thinking ahead to next year’s curriculum.

For teachers planning Holocaust education, CHES offers workshop materials designed to support thoughtful, historically grounded classroom learning.

Past workshops have explored topics including Ontario’s new Grade 10 Holocaust education curriculum, survivor testimony, confronting antisemitism, responding to incidents of hate, Kristallnacht, refugees, and the complexities of teaching this history responsibly.

These materials offer practical ways to bring historical accuracy, ethical reflection, and meaningful discussion into the classroom.

Whether you are building a new unit, revisiting an existing one, or looking for resources to support next year’s planning, CHES’s teacher workshops can help you approach Holocaust education with care and confidence.

Explore past teacher workshops here: https://chesatottawa.ca/for-educators/teachers-workshops/

They escaped with a warning the world could no longer ignore.

In April 1944, Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler escaped from Auschwitz-Birkenau.

They knew what they had seen. They knew what was still happening. And they knew the world needed evidence.

After reaching safety, they gave detailed testimony about the camp: how people arrived, how selections were carried out, and how mass murder was being organized and hidden from view.

Their account became known as the Vrba-Wetzler Report (also known as the Auschwitz Report). In June 1944, it reached the wider world through Switzerland.

The report did not end the killing. But it changed what could be claimed. It made ignorance harder. It turned witness into record.

For students, the Auschwitz Report raises a difficult question:

When the truth is known, what responsibility follows?

At CHES, this question is central to Holocaust education. Through testimony, artifacts, documentation, and classroom resources, we help preserve the evidence that makes denial impossible and remembrance active.

Visit the link below to explore CHES’s Virtual Holocaust Museum and survivor testimony archive. ⤵️

https://chesatottawa.ca/

𝗕𝘂𝗱𝗮𝗽𝗲𝘀𝘁, 𝗛𝘂𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗿𝘆, 𝟭𝟵𝟰𝟬. Kati Morrison was born.

Before the war changed everything, Kati remembers feeling safe in her neighbourhood. She lived with her parents in a two-room apartment and visited neighbours throughout the building. Her younger sister was born in 𝟭𝟵𝟰𝟯.

Her family was educated and deeply rooted in 𝗕𝘂𝗱𝗮𝗽𝗲𝘀𝘁. Her grandfather was a urologist and her grandmother was Budapest’s 1st female ophthalmologist. Her father had trained as a rabbi and became a teacher after discrimination against Jewish students prevented him from attending medical school.

In 𝟭𝟵𝟰𝟰, Kati’s family was forced to leave their apartment and move into a designated Jewish house marked with a star. Jewish families faced growing restrictions, including being barred from parks and forced to wear the yellow star.

Later that year, Kati’s parents were taken away. Her father was sent to a forced labour battalion in 𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟵𝟰𝟰. Her mother was deported in 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟵𝟰𝟰 and eventually taken to 𝗗𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘂.

Kati stayed with her grandmother and sister. They later moved into a protected house, but it was firebombed.

On 𝗝𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝟯, 𝟭𝟵𝟰𝟱, members of the Arrow Cross rounded up people from their building to be shot at the 𝗗𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗯𝗲 𝗥𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿. Kati, her sister, and her grandmother survived because one of the men recognized her grandmother as he was her former patient and signaled for them to hide beneath a staircase.

Her grandmother’s sister was taken and killed.

Afterward, Kati, her sister, and her grandmother moved into the 𝗕𝘂𝗱𝗮𝗽𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗴𝗵𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗼. They lived in a crowded room with several others and survived on very little food. Her grandmother often gave her own portions to the children.

In 𝗝𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝟭𝟵𝟰𝟱, Kati’s father found them in the ghetto as 𝗕𝘂𝗱𝗮𝗽𝗲𝘀𝘁 was liberated. Her mother returned months later, in 𝗔𝘂𝗴𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝟭𝟵𝟰𝟱, after surviving 𝗗𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘂. She came back ill, with tuberculosis and a broken back.

In her testimony, Kati reflected on how the war shaped her sense of safety and identity for the rest of her life.

Her story is part of CHES’s survivor testimony archive, preserving first-hand accounts for students, educators, and future generations.

We're sharing Kati’s story all month. Watch the full testimony at https://chesatottawa.ca/ottawa-holocaust-survivors-testimonials-full-length/

To understand Holocaust history in the month of June, we look at both the events that unfolded and the evidence that survived. June’s history raises difficult questions about escape, evidence, deception, and mass murder.

Swipe through and ask: what does each date help us understand about the Holocaust?

𝗡𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 𝗔𝗿𝗶𝗲 𝘃𝗮𝗻 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗺 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱!

Do you know a teacher helping students understand why Holocaust history must be remembered? Consider nominating them!

Presented annually by CHES, the award recognizes an educator whose work has made meaningful contributions to Holocaust education in the classroom. Ensuring that students not only learn what happened, but why this history continues to matter.

The award is named in memory of Arie van Mansum, a Dutch rescuer honoured as Righteous Among the Nations, who later made Ottawa his home.

If you know an educator whose work deserves to be recognized, nominate them before June 30, 2026.

Visit the link to submit your nomination. ⤵️

https://chesatottawa.ca/ari-van-mansum-award-nominate-a-teacher-form/

Yesterday was Holocaust Survivor Day, we honour those who survived the Holocaust and the lives they built after unimaginable loss.

Survivors carried memories of families, homes, communities, languages, traditions, and entire worlds that were taken from them.

Many came to Canada and rebuilt their lives while carrying grief, trauma, and responsibility. Some later chose to share their testimony so future generations could learn not only what happened, but what it meant to live through it.

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞.

They remind us that Holocaust education is not only about history. It is about listening, remembering, and ensuring survivors’ voices continue to guide how we teach, learn, and stand against antisemitism.

Every day, we honour Holocaust survivors with gratitude, respect, and a commitment to carry their testimony forward.

Click the link below to explore our survivor testimony archive and hear first-hand accounts from Holocaust survivors. ⤵️

https://chesatottawa.ca/ottawa-holocaust-survivors-testimonials-excerpts/