Toronto charity pushing for mandatory Holocaust education in Ontario schools

It's been more than 70 years but the vivid details of Auschwitz remain fresh in the mind of 93-year-old Hedy Bohm.

"I see the barracks. I see the beaten earth that I was sleeping on. I see the total lack of colour everywhere," said Bohm, who was 16 when she was taken from her home to the Oradea ghetto in what is now Romania and later sent to the infamous concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.

Bohm was separated from her parents. She remembers trying to chase after her mother before being stopped. 

"That is so deep in my mind. I think it was the most difficult moment of my life"

That was the last time Bohm ever saw her mother.

Bohm now shares her Holocaust survival story with students through an online program called Outschool.

"I'm hoping that there is always a person in whatever group I talk to that will be inspired to do something that they didn't think of before," said Bohm.

A new study by a Toronto charity is highlighting just how crucial that kind of education is. About one third of the elementary to high school students who participated said they weren't sure the Holocaust happened or they thought it was "exaggerated or fabricated."

Ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Thursday, the group Liberation75 has released the findings of the survey, which questioned nearly 3,600 North American students. While some boards — like the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) — have worked to incorporate teachings on genocide and the Holocaust at a younger age, there isn't a provincial mandate to do so. The group is calling on the province to expand genocide and Holocaust education and to make it mandatory. 

That call also comes at a time when hate crimes have been on the rise in Toronto, with antisemitic incidents the most prevalent, according to police statistics.

The study focused on students from Grade 6 to Grade 12 from both Canada and the United States, though the majority were Canadian. Participants were recruited based on their teachers signing up and the students had the ability to opt in or out. They were asked about everything from the history of the Holocaust, Jewish identity and antisemitism.

"Nearly 33 per per cent of students surveyed reported feeling that the Holocaust was an exaggerated or fabricated event, or that they were not sure if it actually happened," the study says.

"I find that amazing because there are so many books and films and ways that students are encountering the Holocaust in various forms," said Marilyn Sinclair, founder of Liberation75. 

"And yet there's still this tremendous amount of ... lack of knowledge."