# Liberation75

Liberation75 is a not-for-profit Holocaust education organization based in Toronto, Canada. It was initially founded to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust. The organization first gained recognition for organizing the largest virtual Global Gathering of Holocaust Survivors, Descendants, Educators, and Friends. Liberation75 also co-conducted a notable survey that accessed North American teenagers' Holocaust knowledge, thoughts, and related beliefs about antisemitism and for its involvement in collecting testimonies of survivors who immigrated to Canada after WWII.
The Organization was founded in 2018 by Marilyn Sinclair, who aimed to fulfill a promise made to her late father, Ernie Weiss (1928-2010), to organize an event to bring together witnesses and survivors.

## Background

Liberation75, founded by Marilyn Sinclair, whose late father was a Holocaust survivor, was often awakened by her father's night terrors. When she grew older, her father, Ernie Weiss, revealed to her the source of his nightmares. Weiss had witnessed horrific atrocities committed by the Nazi regime, including being forced to watch the murder of many Jews while imprisoned in Auschwitz. Sinclair recalls, "When I was younger, it was hard to make sense of all of it; I would dream that I was in the camps." She explains that she experienced vicarious or inherited memories, absorbing her father's stories and effectively becoming a witness herself as part of the next generation of Holocaust survivors. "What happens when you're a child of someone who has endured such tremendous trauma is that those memories become yours," she explains. Sinclair's commitment to Holocaust education began in her childhood.

### Holocaust survivor gatherings and conferences

In the 1980s, three significant conferences were organized which brought together Holocaust survivors and descendants for the first time. The first was the International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide in Tel Aviv, Israel, during the summer of 1982. The second was the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors in Washington, DC in 1983. In 1985, Sinclair and her father attended the Canadian Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and Descendants in Ottawa, Canada, with another 5,000 survivors and their families. During this event, Sinclair connected with her father and listened to his experiences of the Holocaust. Her observations were particularly influential when she witnessed other survivors and their children unite, interact, and share their testimonies.
This Ottawa gathering was significant because it was where Sinclair's father recounted his Holocaust experiences with her. Only a few such gatherings occurred, and all during the 1980s (see Further information tab). It was at this event that Sinclair promised her father she would organize a gathering to bring Holocaust survivors together, planting the initial seed for Liberation75.

## Liberation75: A global gathering

Liberation75: A Global Gathering of Holocaust Survivors, Descendants, Educators and Friends was initially slated for May 30-June 2, 2020, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, to commemorate 75 years since the liberation from the Holocaust. Before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, registration had exceeded 10,000 attendees. However, as the coronavirus pandemic escalated worldwide, the event had to be postponed.
In 2021, the event was reorganized for a free virtual audience and occurred online from May 4–9, with a Holocaust film festival from May 6–15. More than 55,000 people attended the event. Liberation75 hosted what it described as "the world's largest virtual gathering of Holocaust Survivors, Descendants, Educators, and Friends."
Founder, Sinclair posed a question toward the global community: "How are we going to keep the memory and lessons of the Holocaust relevant for the future, particularly in the absence of survivors, who have done the vital work of sharing their stories, visiting schools, and establishing monuments and memorial centres?" Sinclair stated, "The five-day event focuses on what happens when hate goes unchecked," Sinclair told Canadian Jewish News.
There were 124 speakers and survivors who shared their stories. Some guest speakers included Elisha Wiesel, the son of Nobel laureate, Elie Wiesel, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Dr. Deborah Lipstadt, and Justice Rosalie Abella. The conference included programming for descendants of Holocaust survivors, and virtual exhibits from the USC Shoah Foundation and Anne Frank House. New technologies were showcased such as the USC Shoah Foundation's Dimensions in Testimony.

## Curriculum changes to Canadian schools

In 2022, during Holocaust Education Week, the minister of education announced that Holocaust education would be mandatory in elementary schools across the province of Ontario, starting in grade 6, as a response to rising antisemitism in schools. A survey that was conducted by Dr. Alexis Lerner from Western University and Liberation75 in 2021 found that 1 in 3 students thought that the Holocaust was either fabricated, exaggerated or did not happen at all. Moreover, over 40% responded that they had unquestionably witnessed an antisemitic event. In an interview with founder Marilyn Sinclair, it was discussed that Jews represent only 1% of the population in Canada. However, 360 out of 900 students had witnessed this.

## Notable survey

Liberation75 co-conducted a notable survey that accessed North American teenagers' Holocaust knowledge, thoughts, and related beliefs about antisemitism. The most notable result shared publicly was that "one in three teenagers believed that the Holocaust was exaggerated, fabricated or they didn't know what to think," which prompted Ontario's Minister of Education, Stephen Lecce, to mandate Holocaust education in the grade 6 curriculum - the first province in Canada.

## Collaborative work
### Last Chance Collection

Liberation75 was asked to search and find 150 Holocaust survivors who had immigrated to Canada after the war, to record video testimony by the USC Shoah Foundation in 2021. The USC Shoah Foundation has recorded testimony since 1994. In 2018, in a renewed effort to record testimony from survivors of all types of atrocities worldwide, the foundation started The Last Change Testimony Collection. With help from people and organizations across Canada, Liberation75 met their mandate.

### Stories are Stronger than Hate: A Call to Action

In 2020, with the goal helping students "to connect those dots between what they’ve been learning all year [about the Holocaust] to what’s happening in their communities right now,” Liberation75 partnered with nonprofit, USC Shoah Foundation, to host an educational virtual broadcast to approximately 1,500 students in 22 countries, titled, "Stories are Stronger than Hate: A Call to Action," during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The broadcast was hosted by Dr. Stephen D. Smith, Canadian director/actor, Mike Myers, with former NHL Hockey player Akim Aliu, and Toronto Holocaust educator, survivor, and Order of Canada Appointee, Pinchas Gutter OC, sharing his personal story and experiences witnessing the Holocaust (Madjanek, Buchenwald, and Theresienstadt).
“I have an obligation to speak out against racism and institutionalized hatred and that’s why I’m here...Now more than ever, it’s important to hear from survivors and witnesses of genocide, who know firsthand what can happen when hate goes unchecked. We all must remember and learn from history and do better for future generations,” remarked Mike Myers. Founder of Liberation75, Marilyn Sinclair stated that when these personal accounts of Holocaust are shared, students can draw parallels from their own lives, creating fellowship and awareness.

#### Stronger Than Hate: A Call to Action 2.0

In May, 2021, during Black Heritage Month, another broadcast was initiated and presented by the Toronto District School Board’s African Heritage Committee, Liberation75, USC Shoah Foundation, Toronto District School Board's Jewish Heritage Committee, and Peel District School Board. Participants included Holocaust survivor/author Max Eisen (who was liberated by the 761st Tank Battalion), author, Joe Wilson Jr. (son of Joe Wilson Sr. of the United States 761st Black Panthers Tank Battalion, which took part in the liberation Nazi concentration camps), DeSean William Jackson, John L. Withers II (son of Lieutenant John L. Withers of an all-Black U.S. Army Truck Company), and was hosted by Executive Director Chair, USC Shoah Foundation, Dr. Stephen D. Smith. This webinar was put together to commemorate the historical 761st Tank Battalion, the first all African American Tank Battalion to see battle in WWII. Student co-hosts shared they had been watching the rise of anti-black racism and antisemitism happening worldwide, and being home during the Covid-19 pandemic, had been spending their time enhancing their knowledge of black history, specifically the 761st Battalion and its impact on future generations.