Arts & Culture

Pour célébrer la semaine de l’éducation sur l’holocauste, la bibliothèque de référence vous invite à venir assister à une conference en français par Edith Gelbard le  lundi 7 Novembre de 13h30 à 15h dans la salle Beeton.

In honor of Holocaust Education Week (HEW) join us for a free public lecture by Edith Gelbard at the Toronto Reference Library  on Monday November 7, 1:30 -3:00 pm, in the Beeton Auditorium.  The talk is in French and is open to all members of the public.

Edith Gelbard est née à Vienne, en Autriche, en 1932. Sa famille a fui l’Autriche pour la Belgique en 1938. De la Belgique ils ont dû partir pour la France en 1942, où son père a été arrêté. Edith ne l’a jamais revu. Après avoir séjourné dans une maison pour enfants jusqu’en 1949, elle est ensuite allée à Paris pour devenir monitrice. Elle a travaillé dans une maison pour enfants juifs jusqu’en 1953. Edith a émigré au Canada en 1955 avec son mari et leur fils.

Edith est l’héroïne d’un livre, Hiding Edith, rédigé par Kathy Kacer, qui a reçu de nombreux prix de littérature pour enfants.

Hidden child Edith Gelbard was born in Austria in 1932. In 1938, her family fled to Belgium, then fled again to France in 1940. In 1942, her father was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau, and then Edith and her little brother were hidden; first in a Children’s Home, then in the countryside. She was liberated in 1945, and came to Canada in 1958.  Edith is the heroine of the children's book, Hiding Edith, by Kathy Kacer.  Kathy Kacer has also authored the well known "The Secret of Gabi's Dresser", as well as the Margit series for children.

This is one of 11 programs being held in 2011 at various Toronto Public Library branches throughout the city.  The programs are free of charge and open to all members of the public.  Local schools send classes to have the unique opportunity to hear actual survivors speak giving their personal testimonies.  In many cases the speakers, who are now quite elderly, were of the same age in the 1940s as the children and teens in the audience who are listening to them.

Holocaust Education Week, an annual event produced by the Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre every November, presents diverse educational, cultural and community programs, culminating in a Kristallnacht commemoration. The largest Holocaust educational forum of its kind, Holocaust Education Week features leading voices in Holocaust and Human Rights awareness at venues throughout the Greater Toronto Area and surrounding region. 

See Edith Gelbard speak on the following Youtube clip – she begins at minute 3:00.