The Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre partners with the United Nations to distribute primary school educational materials
The Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre, in partnership with the United Nations, will provide age-appropriate educational materials on the Holocaust to the global network of UN information centres for their outreach to primary schoolchildren.
These materials, published in English and French, include the book, Hana's Suitcase, written by Karen Levine, a teachers' guide produced by the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre, and a CBC television documentary about the story.
Hana's Suitcase is an award-winning book that tells the story of one woman's search through history to find out what happened to Hana, a Jewish girl who was killed in the concentration camp Auschwitz Birkenau at age 13.
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The search began in March 2000 with the arrival of a child's suitcase from Auschwitz at the Tokyo Holocaust Education Resource Centre with a painted inscription on the side: a name, Hana Brady, a birthdate and the word "Waisenkind" (orphan). Spurred on by the children at the Centre, the curator embarked on a relentless search from Tokyo to Prague to Toronto to uncover the story of Hana and her fate at the hands of the Nazis.
The Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme, Department of Public Information, is mandated by General Assembly resolution 60/7 to mobilize civil society for Holocaust remembrance and education in order to help prevent future acts of genocide. It also provides guidance, training and material on the Holocaust and the prevention of genocide to the global network of United Nations information centres in over 60 countries. More information is available at www.un.org/holocaustremembrance, or by contacting Kimberly Mann at +1 212 963 6835 or mann@un.org.
Founded in 1979, the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre educates people and students of all ages and backgrounds about the Holocaust, raises awareness of the universal perils of anti-Semitism, racism, hatred and indifference and promotes respect for diversity and the sanctity of human life. The Centre develops a wide range of pedagogical tools and programmes for classroom use and organizes many activities on the Holocaust and current day issues of human rights, racism and genocide. For more information on the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre, please visit www.mhmc.ca or contact Alice Herscovitch at +1 514 345 2605 or alice.herscovitch@mhmc.ca.