Canada’s first memorial to the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust was formally dedicated in ceremonies held at the Allied Jewish Community Center here last Sunday. The edifice has three sections: one devoted to a permanent display of photographs and documents related to the Holocaust; on area for temporary exhibits; and a sanctuary for meditation where an Eternal Light bums over on urn containing ashes from Auschwitz.
Prof. Emil Fackenheim of the University of Toronto, a distinguished Holocaust scholar who was guest speaker at the dedication, said the Holocaust Memorial represented a tremendous achievement for Montreal Jewry as it is the first of its kind in Canada. Fackenheim spoke of the Jewish martyrs and expressed dismay that Canadian authorities so for have made no effort to extradite Nazi war criminals living in Canada.
Steven Cummings of the Allied Jewish Community Services Committee is credited with achieving the Holocaust memorial. Jeanet Blatter, a former art archivist with the YIVO Institute in New York, has been named curator.
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