by Pippa Rogak I. Introduction Discussion of women and the Holocaust often converges on two major themes: women as perpetrators, and women as victims. While both of these topics are unquestionably important and merit further research, a third category remains more obscure and overlooked: women as agents of political change and activists. Since the end of the 19th century, women’s organizations such as the Women’s League for Peace and Freedom (WLPF) and suffrage movements, emerged across Europe and the world.[1] The membership and ideologies of these groups was diverse, but a large contingent o ..read more

by Jaerin Kim   All too frequently, the current Holocaust scholarship tends to focus on the horrific experiences of the victims that they went through during the war. Needless to say, this scholarly focus is an entirely valid choice, as the brutality of the Holocaust and the breath of inhumane crimes that Nazi Germany undertook at the time could never be understated. That being said, rendering Holocaust victims into mere sufferers who lacked the agency to sustain their lives must be avoided, as it would ultimately result in the erasure of the remarkable resilience that they demonstrated ..read more

by Thom Quine René Goldman was a remarkable man who led a remarkable life – a “hidden child” during the Holocaust in France who lost both parents to the Nazis, shunted from orphanage to orphanage as a child, he nevertheless went on to lead a fascinating life in several countries, including Poland and China in the Stalinist era, before finding success as a professor of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia. Goldman showed resilience in the face of adversity and trauma that was admirable, and not unique, among the “hidden children.” Unfortunately, not all child survivors of the Hol ..read more

By Grace Ramazani As the number of adult Holocaust survivors is dwindling with the passing of time, there has been an increased demand for the stories of the younger generation of survivors in order to facilitate Holocaust education through the relaying of first-hand experiences. With this increased demand for child survivors, came a newfound interest in stories from hidden children. Hidden children were able to evade death and a fate in concentration camps by hiding from arrest and forced relocation, however, this evasion has previously been viewed as a premise to delegitimize their claims to ..read more

By Paulina Schwartz I. Introduction The Holocaust is undoubtedly one of the most horrific genocides to have happened in recent human history, and its perpetrators serve as a constant reminder of the human capacity for evil.  The survivors of the Holocaust, on the other hand, serve as emblems of the immense human capacity for resilience and healing.  Among them is Martha Salcudean, who survived horrifying traumas throughout her childhood as a Romanian Jew during the Holocaust, as well as additional traumas living under the communist regime in Romania after the war. Despite all of it ..read more

By Gabrielle Bonifacio An integral part of identity construction is one’s language, and how one uses it to define themselves and the world around them. Language can be an indicator of many identity markers, such as ethnic background, nationality, education or personal interests. One’s fluency in a language or languages can also dictate how well they are able to communicate to others, and can thus create access or denial to services, relationships and certain spaces in society. In her article, “Accepting Jewish roots for a pair of shoes: identity dilemmas of Jewish children in Poland during t ..read more

By Ahad Zafar Early Holocaust education was primarily focused on the well-being and understanding of adult survivors. While there is no comparison possible between those who suffered the great injustice of the Shoah, one group of survivors were not addressed for many decades, the child survivors. A child survivor is any survivor of the Holocaust that was no greater than age 16 in 1945 (“Psychological Reverberations of the Holocaust” 3). The unique experiences of child survivors shaped their lives in stark contrast to the adults, particularly in their relationship with silence. Many child sur ..read more

By Sarah Sunarko Introduction The Holocaust was the brutally violent genocide of Jewish people by the Nazi regime that greatly impacted every aspect of life and thus shaped the course of the lives of its survivors, including their attitudes to life and the professions they decided to pursue, as evident in the life and career of Peter Suedfeld. Suedfeld is a child Holocaust survivor who greatly contributed to his field, Cognitive Psychology, and to the University of British Columbia (UBC). Despite the trauma, the survivors of the Holocaust were given a newfound outlook on life – the Holocaust ..read more