Montreal's Jewish community remembers victims for Yom HaShoah: Holocaust Remembrance Day
On Sunday night, Jewish communities recognize Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, where six candles are lit at a ceremony at the Montreal Holocaust Museum, one for every million Jews killed during the Holocaust.
Amid a rising tide of anti-Semitism and conflict in the Middle East, one survivor from Montreal says now is the time for dialogue and understanding.
Rachel Kruger Gropper said she's filled with a sense of loss and determination as she stood beneath the eternal flame at the museum.
"Around us you see the names of all the concentration camps," she told CTV News. "Some I was connected to. Some I was not. All of them were families and children. This room is my pause and this light must not go out."
At the outset of the Second World War, Gropper's parents fled Poland, escaping Nazi persecution, only to be arrested by the Soviet Union army and sent to a slave labour camp in the Ural Mountains.
"I was born in a coal mine in Siberia," said Gropper. "And my mother was assured that there wasn't the remotest possibility that I would survive. She was determined to prove that a less than two-pound baby could survive."
The conditions were horrific, and many did not survive the mines.
Her family did, however, and came to Canada after the war.
"This country means a tremendous amount to me as I remember where we came from, and as I memorialize, never to forget, I am caught in today's news, and I can't help but feel upset, concerned," she said.
Since Oct. 7, Montreal police (SPVM) have reported 154 hate crimes and 55 incidents directed at the Jewish community.
At McGill University, the pro-Palestinian encampment has been peaceful for the most part, but earlier this week, video footage emerged of some demonstrators telling Jewish students to "go back to Europe."
For Holocaust Museum president Jacques Saada, the slogan shows a lack of understanding and compassion.
"There is a difference between a noble cause, which is the Palestinian cause and what's happening and this statement that we hear," said Saada. "The Shoah is not a theory. It's not something which we talk about in a vacuum. It is 6 million people who lost their lives, and it's not the statistics and the statistics only. It is real people with real hopes, real aspirations, real pains. It was people like you and me. And these people have been eliminated just because they were Jewish."
Now in her 80s, Gropper devotes much of her time to telling her family's story, fostering understanding through her work at the Holocaust Museum.
"I want us to be able to live together," she said. "I am not interested in hate and my only tools as an educator of a lifetime, my only tool is education."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada outlines national action plan to fight auto theft
The federal government is launching what it calls its 'national action plan' to combat auto thefts, which will include stronger penalties for thieves, and increased information sharing between police agencies, government officials and border enforcement.
U.S. Supreme Court rejects appeal from former Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by a Canadian-born former Guantanamo detainee who was seeking to wipe away his war crimes convictions, including for killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan.
What is BORG drinking, and why is it a dangerous trend? An expert explains
If you've been to a party lately and haven't seen someone drinking a BORG, you're likely not partying with college students.
Iran's president and foreign minister die in helicopter crash at moment of high tensions in Mideast
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the country's foreign minister were found dead Monday hours after their helicopter crashed in fog, leaving the Islamic Republic without two key leaders as extraordinary tensions grip the wider Middle East.
Michael Cohen says he stole from Trump's company as defence presses key hush money trial witness
Former Donald Trump attorney Michael Cohen admitted Monday to jurors in the Republican's hush money trial that he stole tens of thousands of dollars from Trump's company as defence lawyers seized on the star witness' misdeeds to attack his credibility.
The world's best airline is paying staff a bonus of 8 months' salary
Singapore Airlines will reward its employees with a bonus worth nearly eight months of salary, a person familiar with the matter told CNN on Friday.
Woman, 35, in critical condition after her truck collided with a Via Rail train near Montreal
A 35-year-old woman is in critical condition after the pick-up truck she was driving was struck by a Via Rail passenger train Monday morning in Quebec's Monteregie region.
Investors watching posts from 'Crypto King' in the wake of fraud, money laundering charges
Former investors of the self-styled “Crypto King” say they are watching his social media accounts and worried his displays of wealth are signs he’s spending their money, even now, as another large expense tied to Aiden Pleterski has triggered a previously unreported lawsuit.
Almost 2 months after it destroyed Baltimore's Key Bridge, the Dali cargo ship has been moved
The cargo ship Dali is being moved from the site of its catastrophic collision with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in a crucial step toward fully reopening the busy Port of Baltimore.