Ellin and Holocaust Survivor Max Eisen speak at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto

On the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day,  author and journalist Ellin Bessner will bring the story of the Canadian Jewish military personnel who fought for Canada in WWII, helped defeat Hitler and, rescued the survivors of the Holocaust. These 17,000 Canadians of Jewish faith were serving not only for King and Country, but also on a sacred mission to try to stop the Holocaust and save the Jewish people of Europe. Sadly, they arrived too late, for the most part. You will learn about the Jewish Canadian private from Montreal who arrest the “Beast of Belsen”, and the Jewish airman from Toronto who took the Belsen orphans on picnics, as well as what the impact was on the mental health of these Canadian soldiers after their encounters with the evidence of Hitler’s Final Solution.