Michelle Glied-Goldstein says her late father Bill Glied, a Holocaust survivor, would be “heartbroken” to see the current spate of antisemitic incidents in Toronto schools.
“It truly is gut-wrenching,” said Glied-Goldstein, who runs an organization called Carrying Testimony to share the stories of Holocaust survivors.
“I definitely feel like there is a lot more of it in the last few years and probably in the last two years in particular.”
Michelle Glied-Goldstein, left, and her father Bill Glied pose in a picture in 2016. Bill Glied, who survived Auschwitz and Dachau concentration camps, died in 2017. His daughter Michelle captured his stories on video, and shares them with students in schools around Ontario to teach them about the Holocaust. (Shoy Pictures)
In Toronto, Glied-Goldstein is part of the school board’s response to this disturbing trend, and will be speaking to thousands of students in the schools where the incidents occurred, sharing her late father’s story through a presentation and a video interview with him.
But experts say what seems to be a rise of antisemitism in schools is not limited to Toronto, or the last month — and suggest a lack of education is part of the problem.
‘Not just a Toronto problem’
In Markham, Ont., Marilyn Sinclair founded Liberation75, a global organization dedicating to commemorating the liberation of concentration camps.
“This is not just a Toronto problem,” said Sinclair, who is regularly in touch with Holocaust awareness organizations across the country.
“They all tell the same stories that they have antisemitism in all of their schools. They have swastikas painted on the walls of the schools. The Nazi imagery has gone out of control within the schools.”
Ottawa Grade 12 student Talia Freedhoff wrote about experiencing antisemitism in schools. (Talia Freedhoff)
Talia Freedhoff agrees with that. The Grade 12 student in Ottawa recently wrote an article for the Canadian Jewish News about her experiences moving to a public school after attending a Jewish private school. She says she’s experienced insensitivity to the needs of Jewish students, with teachers scheduling tests or assignments on major Jewish holidays, and has heard from other Jewish students about overt antisemitism.
“I’ve heard of people who had swastikas drawn on school supplies,” said Freedhoff. “I’ve heard a lot of really bad things … like money being thrown at Jewish students because they are Jewish.”
What was the Holocaust?
During the Second World War, the German Nazi regime persecuted and murdered approximately six million Jewish people throughout Europe. Jews were rounded up and sent to concentration or extermination camps to be killed with poison gas or subjected to forced labour. Some of the camps were also used for other groups persecuted by the Nazis such as Roma, homosexuals and political opponents. You can learn more about the largest of the Nazi death camps here: Life after Auschwitz.
‘They said I should go back to the gas chamber’
Antisemitism in schools is something Winnipeg father Ron East and his son Shai know well.
Shai says the bullying for being Jewish started when he was only in Grade 7, with a tap on the back from another student.
Winnipeg teenager Shai East, left, and his father Ron. Shai says he had to endure several antisemitic attacks when he was in Grades 7 and 8. Ron East says the administration of his son’s school promised to protect him but did nothing. (CBC)
“He just told me that I was weird and freakish for being Jewish. He told me that he knows that we control the world and that we eat babies and a bunch of other lies that really hurt my feelings.”
It didn’t end there. The following year, he says, he was accosted by four boys with an antisemitic slur.
“They started calling me names. They said I should go back to the gas chamber, that I’m a k—.”
Shai’s father Ron complained to the administration. He said he was reassured but ultimately, nothing was done. Then, the pandemic started and schools went online. By the fall of 2020, Shai was off to high school.
Ron East says what happened to his son speaks to a broader problem within the school ecosystem.
“You wonder, where’s the education piece for this particular student who is there guarding at the door, watching those students? Where are the parents seeing what they’re seeing on social media, talking with their students? Where are those teachers educating them?”
Lack of education, online images to blame
Indeed, experts say a lack of education on the harms of antisemitism and the history of the Holocaust is at the root of these problems in schools.
Sinclair’s Liberation75 organization published a report last month in which they interviewed 3600 students in Grades 6 to 12. Only two-thirds of the students surveyed said the Holocaust happened and six million Jewish people were killed. Of the others:
10 per cent said the Holocaust was exaggerated or may have been fabricated.
23 per cent were unsure what to answer.
Sinclair thinks the apparent uptick in school incidents of antisemitism in the last two years is no coincidence. Over that period, students have spent more time than ever online because of the pandemic, not only learning virtually, but also going on social media platforms, video game chat sites, and so on.
“I think the temptation is to say that these students are somehow bad students or come from bad families. I don’t believe that at all. I believe that the students are online. They’re seeing Nazi imagery. They’re seeing the Nazi salutes and they’re being provocative.”
Marilyn Sinclair is the founder of the organization Liberation75. Started to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of concentration camps, the Markham, Ont.-based foundation also provides Holocaust education for schools and families. (Doug Husby/CBC)
She says that Nazi imagery is more commonly seen in the news reports too, which makes it look more “normalized” in the eyes of the children, who may not understand the context.
“When the ‘Freedom convoy’ was happening and that one Nazi flag was being flown in Ottawa? That image was shown over and over again in social media. The kids see it. They don’t know what to make of it.”
Though no one keeps statistics on antisemitic incidents in Canadian schools in particular, the latest B’Nai Brith Canada audit found an 18 per cent increase in recorded antisemitic incidents in 2020 compared to the year before.
Education for students and teachers
The solution, experts say, lies in education, for students, teachers and school administrators . Student Talia Freedhoff would like to see teachers better equipped on how to spot and respond to antisemitism they might see in class.
“I think that generally it is a lack of awareness because antisemitism is so hard to spot in comparison to a lot of other forms of hatred. And so, you know, often people just don’t know that it’s that bad.”
Holocaust educators Marilyn Sinclair and Michelle Glied-Goldstein would like to see learning about the Holocaust mandated within the curriculum, something they say is not currently the case in any province or territory.
In this 2016 photo, the late Bill Glied is seen visiting the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, where he was once a prisoner. Much of Glied’s family perished in the camps, but his Canadian-born daughter Michelle continues to talk to students about his life. (Shoy Pictures)
In the meantime, Glied-Goldstein is happy to share her father’s story with as many schools as will have her, a story of how a young boy’s happy childhood was forever upended by hate.
She says she wants students to understand that the horror of the Holocaust started with exclusion, words and symbols, like the ones they’re seeing within their schools.
“We always say it starts with words, but it never ends there.”
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Darcy Kuemper made 16 saves for his first shutout of the season and 32nd overall, helping the Los Angeles Kings beat the Nashville Predators 3-0 on Monday night.
Adrian Kempe had a goal and an assist and Anze Kopitar and Kevin Fiala also scored. The Kings have won two of their last three.
Juuse Saros made 24 saves for the Predators. They are 1-2-1 in their last four.
Kopitar opened the scoring with 6:36 remaining in the opening period. Saros denied the Kings captain’s first shot, but Kopitar collected the rebound below the goal line and banked it off the netminder’s skate.
Fiala, a former Predator, made it 2-0 35 seconds into the third.
The Kings held Nashville to just three third-period shots on goal, the first coming with 3:55 remaining and Saros pulled for an extra attacker.
Elsewhere in the NHL on Monday:
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DEVILS 3 OILERS 0
EDMONTON, Alta. (AP) — Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his NHL career, helping the New Jersey Devils close their western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored. The Devils improved to 8-5-2. They have won three of their last four after a four-game skid.
Calvin Pickard made 13 saves for Edmonton. The Oilers had won two straight.
