As mentioned in Words from the Chair, Mina Cohn and Marilyn Sinclair, founder of Liberation 75, met in Ottawa with Sedda Antekelian and Lesly Culp of the USC Shoah Foundation to discuss plans for the IWalk, a virtual guide to Canada’s National Holocaust Monument. Joined by Kenra Mroz and me, the all-day meeting was an opportunity to discuss the concept of the IWalk and learn from the experiences of Holocaust monuments in other cities.
A key objective of the discussion was to review CHES’ and Liberation 75’s vision for the virtual tour, one that is anchored in the lived experiences of Holocaust Survivors, while being focused on sharing the history of the Holocaust with a broad audience of visitors to the Monument.
Over the past year, CHES and Liberation 75 have been working with the USC Shoah Foundation on the concept of the IWalk. The recent visit enabled the key players, who are based in Los Angeles, to see the site firsthand and provided an opportunity to share information about the project with key Federal Government partners such as the Department of Canadian Heritage, the National Capital Commission, and the War Museum. It also allowed CHES to share the experience gained from the many Pre- IWalk tours of the monument with educators, diplomats, public servants, and a range of other groups which CHES conducted over the past year. These tours provided CHAS with a better understanding of the needs of visitors and has enriched the research for the IWalk App.
The goal of this educational project is to combine the physical experience of the monument with virtual interactive elements to expand knowledge of the Holocaust and the lived experiences of Canadian Holocaust survivors. In addition to telling survivors’ stories, the virtual presentation will speak to the symbolism of the monument and connect its message to universal human experiences. It will tell the story through a Canadian lens.
CHES and the Liberation 75 team working with the USC Shoah Foundation includes Dr Ryan Masters, historian and participant in the original team that created the Monument, CHES member Dr. Phil Emberley, Mina Cohn, and Marilyn Sinclair.
The Pre-IWalk team offering tours to the monument includes CHES director Artur Wilczynski, CHES executive assistant Jessica L, and Mina Cohn.
