Remembering the horrors of the Holocaust 78 years after liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau
Remembering the horrors of the Holocaust 78 years after liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau
When Dr. Agnes Klein took the podium at the National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa, there was silence.
Klein, who says she never thought of herself as a survivor, was just three years old when the war broke out. She survived the Holocaust by hiding on a farm in Romania.
"My husband was a concentration camp survivor and he never wanted to speak of his experiences. However, current circumstances and increasing hate have forced me and have made me and induced me to speak out," Dr. Klein said.
In an emotional and powerful speech at an International Holocaust Remembrance Day event in Ottawa, Klein stressed the importance of remembering the millions of victims murdered by the Nazis during the Second World War and underscored the need to stand up against antisemitism and hate.
"As long as we remember their names, they continue to be alive in some ways because it reminds us that those were people who loved and lost, contributed to society, were generous, courageous and resilient," she said.
On Jan. 27, 78 years ago, Soviet troops liberated the most notorious concentration camp -- Auschwitz-Birkenau. While roughly 7,000 prisonners were liberated that day, over 1.1 million people, the vast mostly Jews, were murdered by the Nazis there. Across the world, Jan. 27 has been designated International Holocaust Rememberance Day.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was also among the speakers. He urged Canadians not to be complacent and to call out hatred whenever they come across it. Acts of hateful and antisemitic rhetoric, he said, are coming from "dark corners of our society."
“Hate is being amplified online and on other platforms and so we cannot and must not be complacent," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at the event. "All Canadians, especially those of us here who are leaders, need to stand up and call it out plainly and loudly.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poililevre also encouraged Canadians to call out “utterances of hatred and antisemitism.”
“When we do that, and only then will we live up to the privilege and the honour it is for us to live here as Canadians.”
According to Statistics Canada, the number of police-reported hate crimes increased by 27 per cent in 2021, with an increase in hate crimes targeting the Jewish community went up 47 per cent.
Lisa Levitan, whose grandfather survived a concentration camp, is an advocate for the global End Jew Hatred campaign. The grassroots movement says it aims to eliminate Jew hatred through peaceful action and education.
"He instilled in me the importance of ensuring that we remember, that we never forget the horrors," she said. "It is our duty as the next generation to make sure we remember."
A teacher in Ottawa, Levitan says antisemitism has become too common in schools and "that's a problem we need to end."
"The fact that it is resurfacing to such immense levels ... is unacceptable."
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Interim RCMP commissioner Michael Duheme says he would support the Criminal Code changes recommended in the Mass Casualty Commission report to implement stricter gun laws.
Police say the bodies of eight migrants have been retrieved from the waters off the Mohawk Territory of Akwesasne, straddling the Canada - U.S. border. The people whose bodies were recovered Thursday and Friday consisted of two families of Romanian and Indian origins who were likely trying to enter the U.S. illegally, police said Friday.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump is facing multiple charges of falsifying business records, including at least one felony offence, in the indictment handed down by a Manhattan grand jury, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Friday.
A recent report from Royal LePage is predicting a drop in prices for Canadian cabins and cottages this year as demand softens from economic uncertainty and low housing stock.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is defending the appointment of senior Liberal cabinet minister Dominic LeBlanc's sister-in-law as Canada's interim ethics commissioner.
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Vogue Philippines has revealed Apo Whang-Od as the cover star of its April issue, a move that makes the 106-year-old tattoo artist from the Philippines the oldest person ever to appear on the front of Vogue.
W5 investigates aging asbestos pipes across Canada and the potential health hazards if it ends up in your tap water. Watch W5's 'Something in the Water' on CTVNews.ca and W5's official YouTube channel.
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CTV W5 speaks with members of the comedy industry, including Russell Peters, for a wide-ranging look at how political correctness and 'cancel culture' has changed the world of stand-up comedy.
An Ontario couple has filed a request with the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) to appoint a new police force to investigate the death of their 17-year-old son Benjamin, who died during a hockey team-bonding event in September 2019.
The parents of young Ontario hockey player Ben Teague have been searching for answers since he died while at a team retreat in 2019. The mystery about what happened and the code of silence in hockey culture is explored in CTV W5's 'What Happened to Ben,' on CTVNews.ca and W5's official YouTube channel.
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The RCMP knew about a potential cocaine shipment from the Dominican Republic to Toronto aboard a Canadian charter flight but inexplicably allowed the crew that discovered and reported the drugs to be detained for months without intervening, a W5 investigation has revealed.
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In one day, Ontario midwife Manavi Handa saw three patients who will have to pay thousands of dollars to be able to schedule a C-section beginning on Sunday.
Toronto police are looking for a suspect who allegedly yelled racial slurs while chasing people with a sharp object at Kennedy subway station on Friday morning.
Police say the bodies of eight migrants have been retrieved from the waters off the Mohawk Territory of Akwesasne, straddling the Canada - U.S. border. The people whose bodies were recovered Thursday and Friday consisted of two families of Romanian and Indian origins who were likely trying to enter the U.S. illegally, police said Friday.
King Edward Avenue is the red light district for Ottawa drivers, with three cameras on the busy road issuing thousands of tickets for running red lights last year.
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Sigfrid Stahn walked out of the Barrie courthouse Friday a remorseful man one day after a jury found him guilty of impaired driving, causing a collision on Highway 12 in July 2020 that killed a 77-year-old Midland man.
A U.S. citizen charged with threatening death or bodily harm to Justin Trudeau made a virtual court appearance from a London jail Friday. Jeremy Joseph, 40 — who is living in Sarnia, Ont. — was arrested on Feb. 4, 2023 after Sarnia police were notified of emails containing threats.
The province’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) is investigating after a man was seriously injured while attempting to flee from OPP on Highway 401 Thursday afternoon.
A London, Ont. police officer stopped a driver in the city’s north end Friday afternoon after they were seen travelling 99 km/h in a posted 50 km/h zone.
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By day’s end Friday, the COVID-19 assessment clinic at Windsor Regional Hospital (WRH) will close, more than three years after opening at the height of the pandemic.
Windsor experienced the largest drop in its ranking for median household income growth, following a new report from Fraser Institute ― but local employment leaders say the city has all the tools to bounce back in future rankings.
Police say the bodies of eight migrants have been retrieved from the waters off the Mohawk Territory of Akwesasne, straddling the Canada - U.S. border. The people whose bodies were recovered Thursday and Friday consisted of two families of Romanian and Indian origins who were likely trying to enter the U.S. illegally, police said Friday.
Hydro-Québec annual indexation of its electricity rates will take effect this Saturday, capped at 3 per cent. The Crown corporation says that for residential customers, the monthly impact of the 3 per cent increase would be $2.28 for a five-and-a-half dwelling, $4.27 for a 111-square-metre home, $5.65 for a 158-square-metre home and $6.97 for a 207-square-metre home.
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A doctor named in a lawsuit after a Nova Scotia woman died in hospital following a long wait to see a physician has denied allegations from the family that he failed in his duties.
A man is facing multiple charges in connection with a series of fires that police say were deliberately set in Vancouver's downtown core earlier this week.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is defending the appointment of senior Liberal cabinet minister Dominic LeBlanc's sister-in-law as Canada's interim ethics commissioner.
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Interim RCMP commissioner Michael Duheme says he would support the Criminal Code changes recommended in the Mass Casualty Commission report to implement stricter gun laws.
The federal government now expects far more Canadians with long-overdue dental needs to sign up for its insurance plan, and the health minister says that's why the estimated cost has risen by $7 billion.
The B.C. government's bid to restrict the sale of diabetes drug Ozempic to prevent non-Canadian residents draining supplies was the right move and a long time coming, says Brett Skinner, founder and CEO of the Canadian Health Policy Institute.
Luxury detergent brand The Laundress has announced another recall of its products after discovering a known carcinogen in its line of fabric conditioners.
Italy is temporarily blocking the artificial intelligence software ChatGPT in the wake of a data breach as it investigates a possible violation of stringent European Union data protection rules, the government's privacy watchdog said Friday.
New research suggests the classic image of a Tyrannosaurus rex with massive, sharp teeth might be wrong. A study in the journal Science suggests the teeth on a T. rex was likely covered by scaly lips and didn't stick out when its mouth was closed.
A Florida teenager has documented how it feels to be young and transgender for a film set to debut at a festival as transgender people around the world celebrate visibility and lawmakers across the country look to restrict their rights and care.
Gwyneth Paltrow 's motivation to go to trial to fight a lawsuit accusing her of sending a fellow skier “absolutely flying” at a posh Utah ski resort in 2016 was about vindication. She got it when a jury found her not at fault in the collision, granting her exactly the $1 she sought in her countersuit
Most of the big cats at Carole Baskin's Florida animal sanctuary profiled in Netflix's 'Tiger King' series will be moving to a sanctuary in Arkansas and Big Cat Rescue's land will eventually be sold.
Under intense scrutiny from Washington that could lead to a potential ban, the top attorney for TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance defended the social media platform's plan to safeguard U.S. user data from China.
A 2018 Twitter post by Tesla CEO Elon Musk unlawfully threatened Tesla employees with the loss of stock options if they decided to be represented by a union, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
Vogue Philippines has revealed Apo Whang-Od as the cover star of its April issue, a move that makes the 106-year-old tattoo artist from the Philippines the oldest person ever to appear on the front of Vogue.
With just five weeks before King Charles III's coronation, a British manufacturer of fine bone china is busy making 'God Save The King' commemorative plates and mugs for the historic occasion.
About half of Americans said they experienced stress within the past day, according to a Gallup Poll survey from last October, a finding that was consistent for most of 2022.
Daniil Medvedev hasn't won a title in the United States since capturing the 2021 U.S. Open, when he turned away Novak Djokovic's bid for a calendar-year Grand Slam.
CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani and former Canada Soccer president Nick Bontis defended Canada Soccer's controversial deal with Canadian Soccer Business on Thursday, telling a parliamentary committee that the contract provided the governing body with more guaranteed revenue that it had received previously.
Formula One officials confirmed on Friday that teams can no longer touch their cars with jacks during penalty pitstops in the wake of the Fernando Alonso controversy at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Holding a sprint race on a street circuit at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix is a "ludicrous" proposition which will cost Formula One teams when they "trash" their cars, Red Bull boss Christian Horner said.
Formula One officials confirmed on Friday that teams can no longer touch their cars with jacks during penalty pitstops in the wake of the Fernando Alonso controversy at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Red Bull principal Christian Horner has criticized the stricter interpretation of a rule that bans Formula One team employees from climbing pit wall for victory celebrations.
