On January 27th, Holocaust Remembrance Day, the JLSA is inviting students to attend our event dedicated to the commemoration of Holocaust victims and the education of the atrocities under the Nazi Regime. The event will feature introductory remarks from Dean Mary Condon and Associate Dean Karen Drake.
Our event will also feature a speech on the importance of Holocaust Remembrance by Irwin Cotler, Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism. He is also a former human rights lawyer, a former member of the Canadian Parliament and the current chair and founder of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. The Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights is founded on and dedicated to the pursuit of justice. In honour of Holocaust Remembrance Day, the JLSA is honoured to be raising funds for Cotler’s organization to further the pursuit of justice and humanitarianism.
The JLSA is privileged to be collaborating on this event with Max Eisen, a Holocaust survivor, author, and educator. Max will be telling the story of his survival, sharing his experience of his life as a Jewish person under the Nazi regime and his deportation and experience in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Students in attendance will also be gifted with a copy of his best-selling book, By Chance Alone: A Remarkable True Story of Courage and Survival at Auschwitz. In the book, Max gives further details of his experience as a Holocaust survivor and how his life was impacted after liberation.
By attending the event, students will also be provided with a link to HBO’s Conspiracy, a film depicting the Wannsee Conference, the event in which the Final Solution was planned. This film gives insight into how the highest-ranking Nazi officials systematically deliberated what to do about the so-called “Jewish problem” that Germany was facing at the time and the way they ultimately decided to proceed with the extermination of Jews in concentration camps. This film is of particular relevance to us as law students, as it is demonstrable of how the law can be manipulated to serve unjust and evil ends.
While the Holocaust is often conceptualized as history, its impact still affects and threatens the Jewish community today. If there is anything that this past year has taught us, our education on human rights, justice, and anti-discrimination is far from over. We invite students to join us to learn about the Holocaust, honour those who fell victim to its atrocities and gain an once in a lifetime opportunity to hear from a survivor.
While our Holocaust Remembrance event will focus on a dark time in the history of human rights, the JLSA will be bringing students another event within the month of January that offers hope for the advancement of equality. On January 29th, the JLSA will be collaborating with Osgoode’s BLSA and both the University of Ottawa’s JLSA and BLSA to welcome guest speaker Annamie Paul, the leader of Canada’s Green Party. We invite you to attend to witness Annamie speak about her inspiring story as she makes history in Canada as the first Black and Jewish woman to be elected as the leader of a federal party.
Lauren Rosensweig,
1L rep to the Vice President
