The year 2018 marks 80 years since the events of November of 1938, Kristallnacht, in which well over 1,000 German and Austrian synagogues were destroyed, along with their Torah scrolls, prayer books, and everything else set aflame without protest by the local population.

In Winnipeg, a ceremony of commemoration was held on Sunday, April 8^th, at the Congregation Shaarey Zedek Synagogue, during which time impassioned remembrances were presented by members of the Winnipeg interfaith community and survivors of the Holocaust.

Belle Jarniewski.

The organizer of the Yom HaShoah memorial is Belle Jarniewski (BEd/93, Cert.Trans/02), herself a child of two survivors of the Holocaust.

“My father was a survivor of six camps,” she says, “and the sole survivor of his entire family. My mother was an Auschwitz survivor and also the Lodz Ghetto.”

Jarniewski is the director of the Freeman Family Foundation Holocaust Education Centre and served as its chair from 2008 to 2018.

Since 2013, she has served on the federally appointed delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) as a member of the Academic Working Group and the Committee on anti-Semitism and Holocaust Denial. She is also the current president of the board of directors of the Manitoba Multifaith Council.

Growing up in the Winnipeg suburb of River Heights, Jarniewski says she stood out from other children who were second- and third-generation Canadians. Her mother had a strong accent and her father was viewed as so much older than her friends’ parents.

“Back then, no one talked about the Holocaust,” she explains. “It was one of those things that didn’t become part of public discourse until the 1980s.”

In about 2002, Jarniewski was asked to become involved with the transcription of answers to questionnaires given to a series of survivors of the Holocaust who lived in Winnipeg. These had been filled out by hand and required close reading to obtain the data for researchers, but little was done with the data for several years.

One day, a Holocaust Survivor suggested that I turn the information into a book so that the stories of survivors would not be forgotten,” she recalls. “I went back to some of the survivors and was able to get additional information about their experiences, allowing me to document them in detail.”

“I believe that we who live in a free country must do all we can to fight anti-Semitism, racism, and bigotry of all kinds, in order to protect that precious freedom”

The result of this research, her 2010 book Voices of Winnipeg Holocaust Survivors, serves as an important document in the history of 73 local survivors before, during, and after the Shoah.

Because of her awareness of her own family’s experiences and her knowledge of other survivors, Jarniewski has felt compelled to educate students of all ages about the Shoah and other genocides. Among the numerous initiatives she has helped organize and coordinate is an annual symposium for Manitoba high school students at the University of Winnipeg attracting up to 2000 students.

“Today perhaps more than ever, as our world community of first person witnesses to the Shoah grows ever smaller, it is our sacred duty to uphold the memory of those whose voices were murderously stilled,” she explains.

“From the individual Shoah denier to those who seek to revise history in many different ways, there are clear attempts to rewrite the history of our people. We cannot allow that to happen.”

Jarniewski’s deep concern for human rights is not confined to the experiences of those who suffered during the Second World War. She is also one of the original founders of Operation Ezra, an initiative to sponsor and resettle Yazidi refugees, and to focus awareness on this genocide occurring as she notes, “in broad daylight.”

She states passionately: “I believe that we who live in a free country must do all we can to fight anti-Semitism, racism, and bigotry of all kinds, in order to protect that precious freedom. The Shoah – the Holocaust – was an unprecedented tragedy, but not unique. For if we are to use the word unique, that means it could never be repeated. In a world where half a million Syrians have been slaughtered during the past few years, and as the world has done precious little to prevent men, women, and children from being murdered by chemical weapons, we dare not say, ‘Never again.’”

Jarniewski’s passion for tikkun olam (mending the world) led her to pursue postgraduate studies in theology at the University of Winnipeg. Her training helps her put into perspective and answer a perennial question about the Holocaust, namely: “How could God let something like that happen?”

Her answer is more a reflection on the nature of humanity than the nature of God.

“God didn’t have anything to do with it,” she says. “Human beings allowed this horror to happen. God is saying to us: ‘Do something!’ He intends for us to fight oppression, poverty, and inequality wherever it exists in this world.”

“We can’t expect miracles from God,” she adds. “He expects us to do these things. For if God controlled us like puppets, there would be no free will.”

Ezra, the Hebrew word for “help” can take many forms including making donations, volunteering one’s time or offering advice. Recently, some members of Winnipeg’s Jewish community have gone over and above, offering ezra to bring Yazidi refugees to safety by committing to help privately sponsor seven Yazidi families and raising awareness about their persecution locally and nationally.

Yazidi refugees are a Kurdish religious minority living predominantly in northern Iraq. Historically threatened for their unique religious beliefs, the Islamic State has violently targeted them for being ‘non-believers’ since taking control of the area in 2014. This has resulted in widespread murder, mass forced displacement and the systematic rape and sexual enslavement of Yazidi women and girls.

Private sponsors have played a critical role in influencing immigration policy, supporting and promoting the interests of newcomers coming to Canada and those already settled. One of the oldest resettlement agencies in Canada, the Jewish Immigrant Aid Society, was founded in 1922 in Montreal to help other Jewish refugees immigrate. Canada’s unique model for privately sponsoring refugees was established in large part because of the advocacy of average Canadians from different backgrounds; groups having the desire to help those in need, and recognizing more needed to be done to supplement government efforts. So it really isn’t surprising that today a Jewish community is part of an effort to sponsor refugees.

While the long-standing resettlement history of Jewish communities in Canada is characterized by sponsoring thousands of their own, groups are moving their work beyond this. Individuals and agencies are now considering helping refugees who are not friends or family and committing to supporting people from a region thousands of kilometres away marred by violence and extremism and whose culture and religion are often misunderstood.

Operation Ezra is an important multi-faith partnership fostered between individuals and agencies within the Jewish community, the Yazidi community and local organizations along a spectrum of different faiths and cultures. It has built on the hard work of individuals concerned about the well-being of others at home and abroad. Organizers have relied on the guidance from long-time sponsorship agreement holder Mennonite Central Committee and former refugees with experience and knowledge that has been critical in submitting the necessary paperwork and identifying the needs of new families once they arrive.

Operation Ezra represents a necessary step toward strengthening solidarity with refugees and rising above the hatred and a fear of “the other” that continues to spread around the world. As some Canadian Jewish groups have recently done with Syrian refugees, members of Winnipeg’s Jewish community are able to look beyond their differences, distance and politics to see a connection with Yazidis.

Both Jews and Yazidis have been victims of genocide and share the experience of governments turning their back on them. Recently, both the United Nations and the federal government acknowledged the actions of IS against the Yazidis as genocide. But the government has yet to make much of a commitment to helping those fortunate enough to flee to refugee camps in neighbouring countries or those remaining in Iraq. After the Holocaust, a strong resistance to resettling Jewish refugees was expressed by the Canadian government that claimed “none is too many.”

The first two families arrive Monday after being delayed by violence in Turkey. Their arrival is a bold expression of the often-ignored pledge of never again; a response to the atrocities committed during the Holocaust and a commitment of the international community for the future. Operation Ezra is the only group in Canada working to privately sponsor Yazidi refugees. This is something that should be praised, but also lamented. Currently, Operation Ezra is campaigning for other Jewish communities in Canada to follow its lead and for the federal government to take action to help resettle more Yazidis. More grassroots mobilization such as this can serve to increase awareness and tolerance of newcomers and their experiences.

Private sponsorship is not without its shortcomings. In fact, the backlog of cases, the extensive, complicated paperwork that goes into a sponsorship application and the lack of communication between government and sponsors are concerning and aggravating. There is frustration with the Canadian government trying to pass the buck on its resettlement responsibilities and non-Syrian refugees being unintentionally sidelined. But it is these challenges that illustrate how hard private sponsors strive to help over and above these setbacks, and how important it is that this work continue.

The advocacy, compassion and commitment to helping others demonstrated by Operation Ezra is a positive step in creating a more inclusive and engaged community. Ultimately, we can find something of ourselves in one another; sometimes we just need to open our eyes, our minds and our hearts.

On April 24, Professors Mary Shariff and Michelle Gallant received the St. Paul’s College (SPC) Rector’s Medal for their work as co-chairs of the SPC Syrian Refugee Committee.

But for the professors, the work itself was more important than the award.

“For us, service to members of our human family – particularly the marginalized – is an obligation, and is its own reward,’ said Professor Michelle Gallant. “It’s a great privilege to work with such an extraordinary group of individuals at St. Paul’s and out in the community.”

In collaboration with five organizations including a number of church groups and others in Winnipeg, the group is coordinating sponsorship of a family of six newcomers.

Syrian refugees find themselves caught in circumstances they did not want nor create, cast from their homes, their cities, their cultures. The group in Winnipeg just wanted to do something to help out and we knew we could.

“We’re also sponsoring a local family to help bring some of their relatives to Winnipeg,” said Prof. Gallant. “Arriving families need everything – from a place to live to healthcare to education to learning English. They need help acclimatizing to things as mundane as using the banking system and knowing where to buy food.”

According to the professors, the generosity of everyone involved in this venture is extraordinary.

“The amazing people at St. Paul’s College are so overwhelmingly willing to do just about anything that is asked,” said Prof. Gallant. “Any one of us will one day find ourselves in need.

“Syrian refugees find themselves caught in circumstances they did not want nor create, cast from their homes, their cities, their cultures. The group in Winnipeg just wanted to do something to help out and we knew we could.”

The Robson Hall professors’ work in these sponsorship efforts includes coordinating donations, finding housing and local resources – such as language training and Arabic-speaking doctors – among a host of other duties.

“They kept spreadsheets of everything a family of six would need,” said Dean of Studies Moti Shojania. “Everything from pots, pans, dishes, bedding and furniture to games, toys and cleaning supplies – I can’t tell you how inspiring it was to see what these superwomen accomplished,” said St. Paul’s College Dean of Studies Moti Shojania. “They organized contacts with doctors, dentists, schools, volunteer drivers for medical appointments and a welcome committee for the family’s arrival at the airport.

“It was deeply moving to see the intelligence, wisdom and grace they brought to this project, and the humility with which they accepted thanks and praise. It was a privilege for all of us to be a part of this wonderful effort.”

The Syrian Refugee Initiative continues to invite new members and supporters. Visit their site.

What can you tell me about the place where you grew up?

I was born and grew up in Damascus. For me, that is the most beautiful place on the planet. There is so much history, culture, amazing food, kind and friendly people. Damascenes are known for their hospitality and their friendliness. I think that is something Canadians and Syrians have in common, their friendly and welcoming nature. In Damascus, people you meet in the street can invite you for lunch even if they don’t know you. Another aspect to note is that Damascus was the capital of Arab and Islamic culture for many years. I lived in Damascus until 2011. In Syria, my family owned a business. We sold and manufactured clothing.

Do you have a favorite memory from home?

It is hard to pick a favourite memory from back home, but I have a favourite place! There is this small alley in Damascus. It is a famous place in Syria. In this alley, you can find some of the best croissants in the city. When I lived there, I used to buy croissants and tea and hide in the alley. That is my happy place. I used to go there when I felt a bit down. That place helped me recharge my energy. If I ever go back to Syria, I think that is one of the first places that I would visit.

Why did you leave Syria?

One night in mid September, the regime came to my house and took my father. They made up some charges to detain him and took him to another place in the city. When he was taken, my family started to make calls to see who would be able to help us get my dad out of prison, but the only leads we got had to do with the regime looking for someone named Montaser. While my father was detained, they were looking for me. They wanted to pressure my dad by using me while they were torturing him. It was at that point that my mother decided to take me out of the country.

From Damascus, you could hire a taxi to drive you to Amman. My mom decided to take me to the taxi depot and hire a taxi to drive me to Jordan. I remember how I was making a bunch of excuses to my mom about why I couldn’t leave. I said that I had exams or appointments I couldn’t miss. I didn’t want to leave. At that time, I couldn’t understand the magnitude of the events happening in Syria. At that point, I thought I would be gone for just a couple of weeks. I never imagined that I would live in Jordan for several years. I worked many jobs, often getting paid less than Jordanians. Unfortunately, Syrians were not allowed to work legally in the country. That had an impact in our ability to get and maintain employment.

Where did you stay when you lived in Jordan?

In Jordan, I lived in Amman. I stayed with some relatives. I lived in the city instead of at a refugee camp because I entered the country through one of the main border access points. My family in Jordan helped out a lot. Despite living in the city, I was a refugee, and, as such, there were restrictions on where I could travel in the country. Despite having similar looks to Jordanians, my accent will give away my nationality when talking to the police.

There were thousands of urban refugees like me. Other Syrians lived in refugee camps and joined refugees from other countries like Somalia, Palestine and Iraq. In the city, it was the same experience; there were other refugees in Amman, not just Syrians. There are approximately six million people in Jordan, and 1.2 million are Syrians living in cities or in refugee camps.

Life in Jordan was difficult because of the lack of opportunities I had as a refugee. If you add to that the stress of being away from your loved ones…well, it was not the best of times. I remember that my friends and family had to stop me at the bus station when I tried to return to Syria. I wanted to go back because I couldn’t handle our situation and the things my father was going through. It was crazy. My father was in jail for no reason. He was being tortured and I couldn’t handle the thought of him suffering.

After 65 days in prison, my father was released. At that point I thought I would go home, but at that point I was old enough to do military service. My age and profile made me an ideal target for the government who was recruiting more youth. After six months of living in Jordan on my own, my family moved there too.

How did you find out about Student Refugee Program?

After my family joined me in Amann, my mother enrolled me at a university, as she could see that I was struggling with having nothing to do in Jordan and working odd jobs without any further opportunities. However, it was extremely expensive to pay for tuition.

When the revolution started and they took my dad, our assets disappeared. We didn’t have money per-se, but we own the building where we had our business but that was gone with the beginning of the revolution. So, we had nothing after that.

In Jordan, one, two jobs…it was not enough to cover your basic needs and save enough for university. They were paying us below the minimum wage because refugees are not allowed to have a work permit. Because of the extremely high cost of university education, I had to give up on my studies.  My dreams and goals just faded. I thought that from then on I would have a lousy life and have to work two jobs just to get by.

When I was in Jordan I was working with computers. I actually want to do a degree in computer science. One day, I saw on Facebook a post about resettlement and education in Canada. There was this organization, World University Service of Canada (WUSC) who offered a program to continue your studies and resettle in a Canadian city. I applied for their Student Refugee Program (SRP), did several tests to prove my level of English, and then did an interview with WUSC and Canadian government officials.

After all that process, I was accepted in the program, but there was a problem. At that time, which was before the images of Alan Kurdi went viral, there were not enough sponsorship placements in Canada for the amount of students in need. So, I was accepted but I didn’t have a university to go. I was supposed to move to Canada in September of 2015, then it became September of 2016. I was devastated; I couldn’t live in Jordan any more. I was working non-stop but at the end of the day I had nothing, no money or experience. Everything went away. No savings, no profits. As Syrian youth in Jordan, we were like hamsters, just running and running over and over, going nowhere.

So how did it happen? When did you move here?

After the image of Alan Kurdi went viral, there was an increased support from other WUSC local committees to sponsor students. In October of 2015, WUSC told me that I would go to the University of Manitoba in January. That is when I started to see life in colour again. I began communicating with the local committee there; we did a few calls to prepare everything for my arrival. The students in the U of M local committee are really cool people and now they are close friends!

In December, I was told that my flight would leave in three days. It was a funny call. They said, ‘you have three days to pack, and please don’t bring sharp objects.’ I laughed and asked myself – how I’m I going to pack in three days. I was moving with all my things to a new country. But anyway, after a 13-hour flight I made it to Toronto, and then to Winnipeg. Those were my first flights ever.

Now you live in Winnipeg. What are your first impressions?

Well, I think that the weather is something we can all agree on. It is cold here. I think that Canadians are still trying to get used to it. The climate was a big surprise for me.
A part from that, this experience has gone beyond anything that I expected it to be. I don’t feel away from home even with language, cultural and religious differences, I am comfortable here. So far, I haven’t had a severe culture shock.

Winnipeg seems familiar, as if I knew this place from before. I think that the stereotype is true: Canadians are friendly, and they should be proud of it. Being nice is a good stereotype to have, an achievement for the people and its government. I think they have worked a lot to get that title. I am delighted to see how is that they enjoy and take pride in their diversity. I see Canadians looking at foreigners as a source of knowledge, different perspectives, new ideas that will enrich their ideas, not compete with their ideas.

How do you feel about the way in which Syria is presented to foreigners?

I have mixed feelings. I think it is good to focus on Syria because the crisis needs to be covered, but it is devastating to see what has happened to my country. People have been displaced to other areas of Syria and to other countries. However, it saddens me to see that as the only image other countries are getting of Syria. Our culture has given a lot to the world. Mathematical theories, arts and culture, music, theories related to medicine and the first alphabet are some of those contributions. I am proud of being Syrian.  It is a small country but with lots of things to offer. We are friendly and nice people and others appreciate that. Syria used to be one of the best destinations to learn Arabic, because it was a safe place to travel. It makes me sad that people don’t know this, and that they are focusing on the negative. Syria in the media has been reduced to a place where there is war and conflict, a battleground where others test their weapons.

What do you think students, staff, faculty at the university should know about refugees? And should know about your life experience?

I read something very inspirational a few days ago, it said something like, “We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help.” I think that is a really good quote. Alone we cannot help all refugees in the world, but together we can help some refugees. Change has a butterfly effect. Changing the life of one refugee has a ripple effect for others too – at the very least for that one person and his/her family. The fact that the person is studying in a safe environment is a big change for the person and her/his parents. The resettlement of students is life changing. At the university, we can focus on supporting students. This is a university where, when you help one person, you are restoring hope in life for that student, their parents and the people around him/her.

I would like to say that the host community also receives a lot. Refugees don’t just come with the clothing that they own and food they like, they come with ideas, energy, spirit, enthusiasm, because they really appreciate the opportunity to start studying again. Many of the students living in Jordan and Lebanon started their degrees but they couldn’t complete them. It is a win-win deal for Canada and for Syrian students. Immigrants enrich our communities and make Canada a great place. That is what Canada is – a country of people from everywhere around the world.

What would you ask people that want to support refugees?

If you are a student or work for an educational institution, you can help other students who began their studies but are now stuck. There are a lot of students, who were studying law, medicine, economics, engineering, that left for Lebanon, Jordan or Turkey as refugees and now they can’t continue with their degree. In the countries where they live, it is very expensive to return to university, as often they have to pay international fees and/or work to support their families. In Syria, public universities were free to attend. I know people who need one course or two to graduate. Now, they are in Jordan, wasting the best days of their life, running in circles in a hamster wheel.

I would like others to support the NGO and the students that helped me to resettle in Winnipeg.  The SRP is more than a program that you sign up for to get resettled in Canada. WUSC and the local committees provide you with a community that you can belong to, with friends, we are like a family now. I really feel like I am around family members here. I can’t remember a day when I felt homesick for a full day, maybe I felt home sick for a few moments, but the people around me, they are all amazing and they support me a lot. All of them are volunteers and participate in this program because they believe in the SRP. They believe that education can change the world and transform lives. As a student, I would love for people to sponsor refugee students.

Is there anything else you want to share?

This opportunity has given me hope again. I planned all my life since I was in 5th grade. I knew exactly what I wanted to do every year, which courses I needed to take, which skills I needed to develop, when I was going to start my company. My plan was really clear, but when the conflict started and everything changed, I felt devastated. I didn’t know what to do, and I stopped planning…I was only living day by day. I felt that the flame inside of me started to fade, to slowly die. I want to be someone remarkable, someone unique and different and I reached a point where that didn’t looked like it was going to happen anymore. This program gave me oxygen again, the type of oxygen that goes to your spirit.

Upcoming events:

As part of the 21st Human Rights Film Festival WUSC will host the screening of the documentary Refugees: Who needs them? March 19th – 6:00 pm West End Cultural Centre.
To learn more about WUSC and the Student Refugee program contact david.arenas@umanitoba.ca

The U of M WUSC local committee is accepting donation to grow its endowment fund and make this program sustainable. To make a donation, click here.