Holocaust Education Week is ultimately about more than remembrance. It is about ensuring that the lessons of the past continue to inform how individuals and communities respond to hatred, discrimination, and injustice today. We are grateful to the educators, speakers, partners, and participants who made this week possible, and to everyone who took the time to engage with this important work.

The room was full of people who have chosen helping professions as their careers. Care providers. Staff members who make a difference in the lives of Hamilton's aging population. Individuals who are on the frontlines of community life. Those who interact daily with senior citizens who are not immune to the growing pandemic of antisemitism. In fact, in some ways they can be more susceptible to online bullying and vulnerable to overt and more subtle kinds of racially motivated

Marking Kristallnacht in this way, through images, stories, and shared reflections on how different perspectives can greatly impact perception of facts, reminds us that the warning signs of hatred are not always loud. They aren’t always bold signs or loud rallies with angry participants screaming in your face. Often they are subtle. Sometimes they appear gradually. Quietly. Incrementally. Manipulated in imperceptible ways until the damage has been done.

Our first official event following the opening was the community’s annual Yom HaShoah Community Commemoration. Victoria Mancinelli and Yoni Berrous were the keynote speakers followed by the exclusive Hamilton premiere of Irena’s Vows, a powerful film based on the true story of Irena Gut.

On May 2, 2024, Margaret’s Legacy marked a profound milestone as the Margaret’s Legacy Holocaust Learning & Jewish Advocacy Centre officially opened its doors to the community. This unveiling of a new space at the newly renovated Hamilton Jewish Federation building was the realization of a vision years in the making.

Canadian Jewish News Feature Article by Ralph Benmergui (full story can be read on the CJN website) May 3, 2024 Ralph Benmergui at the opening of Margaret's Legacy on May 2, 2024. It’s a sunny and warm Thursday downtown in my city, where sandwiched between a paint store and the brick-and-mortar home of a sports app on Main Street is a place called JHamilton. The Hamilton Jewish Federation hasn’t always lived here, though. And like much in this community, it’s had its share of

Nicole Martin, CHCH News April 4, 2024 "A Hamilton woman is honouring her grandparents’ Holocaust legacy by continuing to share their story through education and community work. Margaret’s Legacy Holocaust Learning & Jewish Advocacy Centre has opened in Hamilton on Main Street West with the idea of educating people on an awful period of human history." Original link can be found here

Set to open in May 2024 at the Hamilton Jewish Federation, the Margaret’s Legacy Holocaust Learning & Jewish Advocacy Centre will be opening its new Museum: a dynamic, evolving hub for education, dialogue, and engagement featuring the story of Margaret and Arthur Weisz, many of Hamilton’s Holocaust survivors and rotating exhibits of interest.