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June 3, 2005
Two men show great strength
Waisman, Krell honored for their leading roles in Holocaust education.
PAT JOHNSON
Those who dedicate their lives to remembering the lessons of the
Holocaust are often assumed to dwell in sadness and grief. This
is exactly wrong, says one of Vancouver's most ardent educators
on the Shoah, who was recognized for his contributions at a hugely
successful gala Sunday night.
Contrary to the assumption that Holocaust education is a field of
unceasing lament, Dr. Robert Krell insists his dedication is antithetical
to death; that it is uplifting and inspiring.
The words came as Krell, a founder of the Vancouver Holocaust Education
Centre (VHEC), was honored for his life's work in the field, along
with fellow survivor, friend, educator and VHEC co-founder Robbie
Waisman. The two Roberts were the toast of the Vancouver Holocaust
Education Centre's 10th anniversary gala at the Four Seasons Hotel,
where massive demand resulted in the unprecedented move of having
two ballrooms – with about 600 guests – linked via closed
circuit camera for the celebratory dinner.
The two men have formed not only an obvious and powerful friendship
over their years of involvement in Holocaust education, they are
also inextricable from the success of Holocaust education in British
Columbia.
Waisman's work began after decades of near silence, according to
an introduction from his daughter, who said it was the emergence
of Holocaust deniers like Ernst Zundel and Jim Keegstra that pressed
Waisman to speak publicly about his torturous experiences as a child
in the Shoah. Since then, the soft-spoken, gentle Waisman has shared
his personal story with thousands of high school children and others
throughout western North America through the VHEC's annual Holocaust
symposia and other public events.
On receiving recognition Sunday, Waisman said he has no option but
to be active in education.
"Not doing this work is simply not an option," Waisman
said. "We know that the message [of tolerance] has to be repeated
again and again. The world doesn't yet get it."
Like other survivors, Waisman said he has a special obligation.
"Every survivor has asked the question why did I survive when
so many did not," he told the hushed throng. "I have a
sacred trust, a duty, an obligation ... to speak for the ones whose
voices have been silenced."
He carries a particular obligation to the 1.5 million Jewish children
who were killed, said Waisman, himself a child when he was liberated
from Buchenwald concentration camp.
Krell, a psychiatrist and hospital administrator who served 15 years
as president of the VHEC, is also a child survivor: he was hidden
by Christians during the war. He shared Waisman's sense of wonder
at being recognized.
"I am astonished that you would honor me for doing what I must
do," Krell said. Both men spoke of the bond they have formed
with each other – "two Robbies for the price of one,"
quipped Krell – and the role that the Holocaust centre has
played in their lives and those of other survivors.
Krell emphasized what sometimes surprises outsiders – that
the VHEC is not a sad place, but one that celebrates life in the
process of remembrance.
"We know when to laugh and we know when to cry," Krell
said of survivors.
And there was plenty of laughter at the gala event. Waisman joked
about the extent of the evening's success.
"To get a dinner [in one's honor] – who wouldn't like
a dinner?" Waisman said. "But to get two rooms!"
He added that his close bond with the psychiatrist Krell has not
only been fulfilling personally, but financially too. "I have
saved thousands of dollars in counselling," he deadpanned.
But the enormity of the Holocaust was ever-present. If he'd known
the enormity of the Shoah's destruction before he was liberated,
he would have lost the will to survive, Waisman said.
"I would not have made it, nor would I have tried," said
Waisman, whose family was almost completely destroyed. He noted
the tremendous task survivors faced in rebuilding their lives after
the war, a notion Krell echoed in citing the fortitude exhibited
by survivors in not only creating lives for themselves and their
families after the horrors, but in setting out to ensure that the
world never forgets the story of that terrible time by building
such infrastructures as the VHEC.
"They fill me with wonder and pride," Krell said. The
VHEC has been funded almost entirely since its inception by survivors
themselves.
Federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, who was scheduled to attend
the dinner, sent videotaped comments instead, due to parliamentary
obligations. He commended Krell and Waisman.
"They have never been silent, they have never been indifferent,"
said Cotler, noting that both men – and thousands of other
survivors – had experienced humankind's most inconceivable
evil. "But somehow you found it in the wellspring of your own
humanity to go on."
The evening helped surpass the VHEC's fund-raising goal, bringing
in about $1.15 million. The gala was scheduled to coincide with
the 10th anniversary of the opening of the VHEC's permanent facility.
Krell and Waisman worked since 1984 to create the centre. The evening
also involved the première of a film on the centre, which
outlined the variety of work and outreach done, from providing support
and social opportunities for survivors, to educating thousands of
schoolchildren and others every year about aspects of the Nazis'
war on the Jews. The evening was co-chaired by Mariette Doduck and
Jody Dales. Frances Belzberg emceed.
Pat Johnson is a B.C. journalist and commentator.
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