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Toronto’s first Holocaust museum looks to the post-survivor era
(JTA) — Toronto is home to one of the world’s largest Jewish communities, nearly half of the 335,000 Jews in Canada. But until last week, the city did not have a dedicated Holocaust museum.
The Toronto Holocaust Museum opened its doors on Friday, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by an array of dignitaries and Holocaust survivors. Aimed at young learners who will inherit a post-survivor world, the space centers around 11 kiosks where large-as-life survivors share their testimonies through interactive videos. Its four galleries explore Jewish and minority persecution in both Europe and Canada, World War II atrocities and the beginnings of new life in Canada for thousands of refugees.
“What we set out to do from the very beginning was to ensure that this was a place to hear from survivors long after they’re gone,” the museum’s Executive Director Dara Solomon told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “Bringing the Holocaust survivors in to see how we’ve done that, and having them really happy and fulfilled, has been one of the most meaningful experiences of my personal and professional life.”
While the center tells human stories from a genocide, it de-emphasizes the panoply of horror that some have come to expect from a Holocaust museum. In its gallery dedicated to the atrocities, some materials — such as images of mass killings in pits on the outskirts of towns — are stored in drawers that must be pulled out by willing viewers.
“We made some very conscious decisions to not use the incredibly graphic imagery I grew up with, because we know that students don’t learn as well as people have thought they did when they’re sad,” said Solomon. “If you’re making them sad and scaring them, the learning actually shuts down.”
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has advised Holocaust educators to use graphic material “judiciously” and “only to the extent necessary” to achieve learning objectives. Graphic images and texts can exploit students’ emotional vulnerability instead of encouraging them to think critically in a safe environment, according to USHMM guidelines.
Created by the United Jewish Appeal (UJA) Federation of Greater Toronto, the 9,500-square-foot museum opened on the federation’s Sherman Campus, a Jewish community center that also hosts a theater, a daycare and other communal buildings. Solomon hopes this location will help facilitate connections between the historical exhibits and daily Jewish life in Toronto.
The Toronto Holocaust Museum replaces the city’s Holocaust Education and Memorial Centre, founded in 1985 by local survivors who wanted to share their stories with students. The previous space had only a small number of exhibits and was half the size of the new museum.
Along with recorded testimonies, visitors at the new museum can now see artifacts that have never been shared with the public. Those items range from a striped prisoner uniform, standard in the Nazi concentration camps, to a gift sent from a mother in the Ravensbrück camp to her children in 1942.
Marketa Brady made three heart-shaped charms at the camp from a chewed-up bread ration painted with toothpaste for her son George and daughter Hana, who were still not captured in Czechoslovakia. Marketa, her husband Karel and 13-year-old Hana Brady were eventually killed at Auschwitz, but George survived and kept the charms. His sister’s life inspired the 2002 nonfiction book “Hana’s Suitcase,” by Karen Levine, which is widely studied by children in Canada. The charms are available on view at the new museum.
Also housed in the museum is a Torah that survived Kristallnacht, the night when the Nazis destroyed Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues throughout Germany and Austria in November 1938. A Catholic priest rescued the Torah from a burning synagogue in the town of Brand. At the end of the war, he handed it to young U.S. army chaplain Gunther Plaut, who brought it home in a bazooka case.
Plaut eventually became a rabbi in Toronto and entrusted the scroll to the future Toronto Holocaust Museum before he died in 2012. The creation of this space has been delayed several times, said Solomon, and many Canadian survivors have hoped for decades to see it become a reality.
“We haven’t really had a museum in the city to collect these artifacts, so a lot of families have been holding onto them — just waiting for this museum to be built,” said Solomon.
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The post Toronto’s first Holocaust museum looks to the post-survivor era appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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9 Israeli Soldiers Injured in Lebanon Fighting, 2 in Serious Condition
Two IDF soldiers. Photo: IDF.
i24 News – Two Israeli officers were seriously wounded and seven additional soldiers injured in two separate incidents in southern Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.
According to the military, the first incident occurred during the morning hours amid an encounter between Israeli forces and armed militants operating in the area.
During the engagement, an anti-tank missile was launched toward deployed troops, which the IDF said was fired by Hezbollah operatives. Two officers were struck in the attack, with one sustaining serious injuries and the second moderately wounded.
A second incident took place overnight in a separate sector of southern Lebanon, when Israeli forces operating in the area came under rocket fire. In that strike, one officer was seriously wounded and six soldiers were moderately injured, the IDF said.
The incidents come amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, marked by repeated exchanges of fire and periodic ground confrontations in southern Lebanon.
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Report: Some 30 US Troops Injured in Iranian Attacks on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi
Screenshot of video of Saudi Arabia’s Air Force intercepts Iranian drones over Saudi airspace. Photo: Saudi Defense Ministry / Screenshot
i24 News – Over 12 US troops have been injured in Iranian attacks on a Saudi air base in the past week, the Associated Press reported on Saturday citing two people who have been briefed on the matter.
On Friday, the Islamic Republic launched six ballistic missiles and 29 drones at Saudi Arabia’s Prince Sultan air base, wounding at least 15 troops, including five seriously, according to the sources who spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity.
US officials initially reported that at least 10 US troops were injured, including two seriously wounded.
The base had come under attack twice earlier this week, including an incident that injured 14 US troops, according to the people who had been briefed on the matter.
Located some 100 kilometers from the Saudi capital of Riyadh, the base is run by the Royal Saudi Air Force, but is also used by US troops.
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At CPAC, a Generational Divide Over Republican Support for Israel
Gabriel Khuly, 19, and Joshua-Caleb Barton, 31, pose for a picture outside Generation Zion’s booth at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) USA 2026 at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center, in Grapevine, Texas, U.S., March 27, 2026. Picture taken with a mobile phone. REUTERS/Nathan Layne
When former Congressman Matt Gaetz opened his speech by aligning with a Republican faction “loyal to only one nation,” his message to the Conservative Political Action Conference was clear: It was a veiled swipe at perceived Israeli influence over US politicians, even without naming Israel outright.
A month into the US-Israeli war with Iran, Gaetz’s comments struck a discordant note at the annual CPAC event. They cut against calls for unity and exposed a growing Republican rift largely along generational lines, as younger conservatives increasingly question support for Israel.
That skepticism reflects a broader distrust of military intervention among younger Republicans, fueled in part by conservative figures such as Tucker Carlson, whose allegations of excessive Israeli influence on US policy have drawn accusations that he is stoking antisemitism. Carlson has repeatedly denied accusations of antisemitism.
The Iran war, including Israel’s role in it, emerged as one of the main flashpoints at CPAC, which for decades has served as a central gathering for Republican politicians and activists.
Jack Posobiec, a conservative commentator and online influencer, said age 45 is a dividing line, with the younger cohort more likely to question the party’s steadfast support of Israel.
“People want to paint it off as if it’s antisemitism, but I don’t think that’s what it is,” Posobiec told Reuters. “It’s just a question of: Why? What is the purpose of this relationship? And I hear that a lot from young voters.”
The issue has roiled the Democratic Party in recent weeks, with some lawmakers and primary candidates distancing themselves from the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC amid growing unease over Israel’s military actions.
It is now exposing fault lines among Republicans as well, turning off young voters who helped propel Trump to victory in 2024 and potentially complicating the party’s efforts to defend slim majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives heading into November’s midterm elections.
Noah Bundy, 17, and Ryder Gerrald, 18, conservative friends from Georgia attending their first CPAC, said they opposed the war with Iran and questioned whether the military operation put Israel’s interests ahead of America’s.
“I think they totally pushed us into a war with Iran,” Bundy said. “My whole family is military and none of us is really for it.”
“Our younger generation, we don’t like Israel as much compared to the older generation,” said Gerrald. He said he would prefer redirecting US taxpayer dollars toward domestic priorities, rather than spending to bolster Israel’s military.
EVANGELICAL SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL
The party’s pro-Israel stance, however, resonates strongly with evangelicals – a pillar of Trump’s political base – and with older voters like Harry Strine III, an 83-year-old CPAC attendee who was wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat.
“Israel is God’s people,” Strine said. “The US was founded on the Judeo-Christian belief. I guess I’m a traditionalist.”
On the conference’s opening day, Rev. Franklin Graham said that, by striking Iran to protect Israel, President Donald Trump was like the biblical figure of Esther, a Jewish queen who, according to scripture, was elevated by God to save her people from annihilation in ancient Persia.
“I believe God has raised him up for a time such as this, like Queen Esther,” said Graham, a prominent Christian evangelist, invoking a core evangelical belief that the modern state of Israel represents the fulfillment of biblical prophecy.
But unease over the Iran war and rising gasoline prices has pushed Trump’s approval rating down to 36% – its lowest since his return to the White House – a Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Monday found. Support among his core base remains strong, however, with 74% of Republicans backing the strikes on Iran.
The debate over Israel coincides with a broader Republican fight over the future of the MAGA movement and who belongs in it. Allegations of antisemitism flared at a December event organized by Turning Point USA, a nonprofit focused on promoting conservative politics. At its first national event since founder Charlie Kirk’s death, commentator Ben Shapiro criticized fellow conservatives for associating with figures like white nationalist streamer Nick Fuentes, who has praised Hitler.
In his CPAC speech on Thursday, Gaetz said he did not agree with Shapiro and other conservative commentators “that we have some sort of near slavish loyalty to a country in a faraway land,” an apparent reference to Israel.
He argued that conservatives needed to allow for disagreements and that “antisemitism isn’t hiding around every corner and in every bush.”
Visitors to the CPAC booth of Generation Zion, a nonprofit group that trains young Christians and Jews to advocate for Israel and to combat antisemitism, could pick up a sticker reading “Tucker Carlson Hates Me,” a rebuke of the commentator’s recent criticism of Christian Zionism and Israel’s alleged sway over U.S. politics.
Gabriel Khuly, a 19-year-old volunteer for the group, said that while the Republican Party has an antisemitism problem, it is driven by a small minority with an outsized voice online.
“The actual anti-Israel, antisemitic wing of the Republican Party, I think, makes itself seem a lot bigger than it really is.”