MONTREAL — The Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre (MHMC) has launched an app for self-guided tours of its museum, in conjunction with its 16th annual Holocaust Education Series.
The mobile application for iPad and Android devices has been developed to further the MHMC’s goal of educating people of all backgrounds and ages about the Holocaust, and sensitizing the public to the dangers of anti-Semitism and other forms of racism, hatred and indifference.
Julie Guinard, co-ordinator of the museum and collections, said the app provides access to three new tours through the collection’s images and videos, many exclusive to the MHMC.
This year’s Holocaust Education Series, which runs from Oct. 23 to Nov. 4, pays tribute to both armed and “spiritual” resistance. It recognizes those who risked their lives fighting against deportations and mass murders, as well as individuals and communities that preserved their humanity and dignity in the face of annihilation.
Among the events, all free of charge, are:
• The launch of the latest series of Canadian Holocaust survivor memoirs published by the Azrieli Foundation, which was held at the Gésù theatre on Oct. 23, and included the premiere of short filmed testimonies.
• The Montreal premiere of From Despair to Defiance: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. at the Gelber Conference Centre. This documentary is followed by a discussion with director David Kaufman and Mindy Spiegel, daughter of Boruch Spiegel, a Warsaw Ghetto fighter who died this year.
• A screening of Pologne aller-retour Oct. 26 at 8 p.m. at the Polish Consulate, which depicts the historic pilgrimage by members of the French Jewish and Roma communities to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
• MHMC Museum open house Oct. 27 and Nov. 3, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m, including survivor testimonies in English and French.
• A discussion titled “From the Pink Triangle to the Rainbow Flag” Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. at the Centre St. Pierre about the persecution of homosexuals under the Nazi regime and the contemporary struggle for LGBTQ rights. It will feature Carson Phillips from the Toronto Holocaust Centre.
• A discussion by Italian pianist Francesco Lotoro of his monumental project “Searching for the Music of the Camps” Oct. 28 at 6:30 p.m. at the Casa d’Italia. Lotoro’s work brings to life these compositions and their creators who refused to renounce their creative freedom despite the conditions they endured. A total of 4,000 works have been uncovered so far, some composed with charcoal on scraps of paper.
• A screening of the documentary No Place on Earth Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. at the Gelber Centre about the remarkable story of five Jewish families who survived the Holocaust by hiding for 511 days in caves in Ukraine. It’s followed by a discussion with some of those survivors – members of the Stermer family of Montreal – director Janet Tobias and Chris Nicola, the cave explorer who discovered the underground hideaway.
• Violaine Gelly, biographer and editor of Psychologies magazine, and Montreal writer Catherine Mavrikakis discuss the works of Charlotte Delbo, who wrote about her experience as a woman in the camps, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. at Librairie Olivieri, in French.
• A discussion titled “The Human Story: Juxtaposition of Oral History and Technology” Oct. 31 at 7 p.m. at Concordia University with experts Kori Street and Steven High on the potential of new media in the transmission of the memory of the Holocaust.
• A musical program closes the series Nov. 4 at 6:30 p.m. at the Segal Centre featuring the Bagg Street Klezmer Band.