A new self-guided tour hopes to draw visitors to Ottawa's oft-forgotten Holocaust monument

Even if you haven't visited the National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa, you may recall when it opened in September 2017 with one glaring omission: it didn't mention Jews. While the federal government did fix the plaque on the nearly $9-million monument, after that controversial opening, the monument sat largely ignored. Yes, it's used by federal politicians for Holocaust remembrance events, but there is limited signage and no tours to explain its significance to visitors or tourists.

It's a problem that the Centre for Holocaust Education and Scholarship (CHES) wanted to fix. On Oct. 30, just before Holocaust Education Week kicks off on Nov. 4, the Ottawa-based organization, with support from Liberation75, unveilled a self-guided tour now available on IWalk, a mobile app created by the USC Shoah Foundation. CHES calls the tour "an essential companion to the monument," featuring information about the details of the monument along with survivor testimonies, educational materials for teachers and a virtual 3D tour.

The CJN Daily's Ellin Bessner was recently in the nation's capital and wanted to see the monument for herself. Rather than take the IWalk tour, she met up with Mina Cohn and Artur Wilczynski of CHES for an in-person experience to hear the story and history behind this new immersive educational experience.

What we talked about

• Learn about the National Holocaust Monument's IWalk tour at iwalknhm.org
• Find more educational resources from CHES at chesatottawa.ca
• Read about the plaque controversy when the National Holocaust Monument opened at thecjn.ca (from 2018)
• Listen to "Canada’s Holocaust monument opened 4 years ago. Why isn’t anyone using it?" on The CJN Daily

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

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