Although the railway car on exhibit in the heart of the U of G campus may be a replica of the kinds of cattle cars used to transport millions of people to concentration camps during the Holocaust, organizers say the stories inside are a grim reminder of a terrible truth that must never be forgotten.
The Holocaust railcar is parked in the high-traffic Branion Plaza and this year includes all new exhibit materials sourced from the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Israel.
Now on display for a third year, the Holocaust railcar exhibit is one of a series of events marking Holocaust Education Week, organized by the on-campus Jewish student organization Hillel Guelph.
Aleeza Karp, co-chair of Hillel’s Holocaust Education Week committee said one focal piece of this year’s exhibit is a political cartoon showing a headstone marked ‘The Holocaust 1938-1945 Never Again’ surrounded by similar headstones marking other atrocities, like Cambodia, Darfur, Bosnia and Rwanda.
“One of the things people tend to say when they talk about the Holocaust is that it is up to us to never forget to make sure it never happens again. We’re just trying to show people it happens all of the time — it’s happening now all over the world to all kinds of people,” said Karp.
On Friday, a free open Shabbat dinner will be held at Peter Clark Hall at 7 p.m., followed by guest speaker Bernd Wollschlaeger, the son of a Nazi tank commander in World War Two.
Committee member Michelle Jacobs said Wollschlaeger has rejected the Nazi ideals once held by members of his family.
“When he found out what his family had done, he changed his entire life around. His story is really inspiring,” she said.
The cattle car bears markings authentic to the time period and has bars on its windows wrapped in barbed wire.
Holding the exhibit in a cattle car similar to those used to transport millions of people to concentration camps during World War Two is a way to bring a small amount of authenticity to the experience, though Karp admits it falls well short of the horrors experienced during the Holocaust.
“There’s no way to bring that kind of experience to campus, and quite frankly I wouldn’t want to,” she said.
Karp went to Jewish schools all of her life and said she was surprised when she came to U of G to find many people were unaware of the Holocaust.
“That is a bit of a culture shock to me, more than any thing else. It makes me think we are doing something good because was are educating people about this real event in history, this atrocity that occurred,” said Karp.
She said some people are surprised to hear many groups were placed in concentration camps during World War Two, said Karp, including homosexuals, Polish people and Romani Gypsies.
“I am meeting all of these people that know of it but don't know anything about it,” Karp said.
On Thursday evening at 6 p.m., Holocaust survivor Howard Chandler will speak at Peter Clark Hall in University Centre, directly adjacent to Branion Plaza and the railcar.
Jacobs said she is hoping for a large turnout to hear Chandler speak.
“We are going to be one of the last generations to hear a real live survivor speak,” she noted.
