FSWC announces new post-graduate scholarship

From left, Liel Miron-Halyo, Lisa Xiao and Nathan Gibson FRIENDS OF SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER PHOTO

TORONTO — In an effort to counter Holocaust denial and encourage the academic study of the Shoah, the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) has partnered with charitable organization the Zaglembier Society to establish a new, post-graduate-level scholarship.

The FSWC-Zaglembier Society Scholarship will award $1,800 apiece annually for a trial period of five years to two students focusing on Holocaust studies within a post-graduate program in the 2015-2016 academic year.

“We hope the scholarship will… support the continuation of Holocaust studies among the young people of the community,” said Avi Benlolo, president and CEO of FSWC. 

“The Holocaust is a singular event in human history that should and cannot be forgotten… Its lessons must be passed on to future generations in the hope that humanity will learn from them.”

David Bleeman, president of The Zaglembier Society, whose membership mainly consists of Holocaust survivors and children of survivors from the Polish province of Zaglembie, said the organization believes “it is our obligation to ensure the phrase ‘never forget’ is grounded in rigorous academic study.”

While few graduate programs in Canada focus exclusively on the Holocaust, Benlolo said the subject is often included in Jewish studies, history and genocide and human rights programs, and graduate students exploring the subject in their given field are eligible to apply. 

He stressed that the scholarship is non-denominational, and that applicants needn’t be Jewish. Both FSWC and the Zaglembier Society recognize the importance of students of varying faiths and backgrounds pursuing Holocaust studies in their post-graduate work, Benlolo said, to ensure that “the horrific truth of what really happened isn’t distorted or forgotten.”

He added: “FSWC believes the legacy and lessons of the Holocaust are not only for the Jewish community, and provide critical learning for all people.”

The scholarship will complement FSWC’s existing Wiesenthal Scholarships. Seven awards worth $3,600 each are given annually to graduating high school students on a university track who have demonstrated what Benlolo called “initiative and leadership in carrying out [the late Nazi hunter] Simon Wiesenthal’s legacy of tolerance, justice and human rights within their schools and communities.” 

FSWC also plans to launch a third scholarship program this spring, providing seed money to high school students interested in starting up initiatives consistent with the organization’s mission to counter hate and intolerance in the community. 

FSWC is already involved with university campuses in various capacities through the Wiesenthal Campus Initiative, in which a national campus co-ordinator works with both undergraduate and graduate students from campuses across Canada to promote FSWC’s message of tolerance, co-existence, dialogue and education. 

The organization also works with FSWC student ambassadors to co-ordinate speaking events and programs on campus that address issues such as race, religion, hate and multiculturalism.

This past semester, for example, the organization arranged for Sudanese human rights activist Simon Deng to share his story of overcoming child slavery with students at Ryerson University and the University of Toronto. 

“The student ambassadors monitor their campuses for acts of racism, intolerance and anti-Semitism,” Benlolo explained, “and maintain contact with our national campus co-ordinator on how to effectively address these cases of intolerance.”

Applicants to the FSWC-Zaglembier Society Scholarship will be assessed based on their academic merit at the undergraduate level, their proposed thesis topics and a written application addressing questions related to their goals within Holocaust education and their reasons for pursuing Holocaust studies at the post-graduate level. 

Applications for Wiesenthal Scholarships are now open. For more information, contact FSWC at 416-864-9735.