Exhibit Highlights | Toronto Holocaust Museum

Theatre Experience

Immerse yourself in the history of the Holocaust through film

Scene from A Tapestry of Moments: Jewish Life Before the Holocaust, produced by Cortina Productions Inc. Photo by Vito Amati for the Toronto Holocaust Museum.

Used as the entry point for any of our Museum tracks, this space enables visitors to step into the history of the Holocaust through specially produced films, projected on a curved wall designed for the optimal screening experience. Through imagery, sounds, music and video, our prewar life film experience Illustrates the vastness, richness and diversity of Jews across Europe prior to the Holocaust.

A Tapestry of Moments is an immersive audio-visual experience that visitors encounter as they enter and settle in the theatre. Through a dynamic stitching of historical photos and footage with audio clips of people singing and music, visitors are immersed in the richness of Jewish life across Europe and North Africa; specifically, Germany, Poland, Austria, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, and Hungary. This “pre-show” film is three minutes long and repeats until another film is triggered by the program control system. It uses the full 180-degree projection surface of the theatre. The film demonstrates a variety of life moments such as home, school, religious celebrations, holidays, weddings, universities, civic organizations, politics, debates and more. The soundtrack delivers the sense of richness and depth. Music, talking and laughing is heard; multiple languages from the voices of real people underscore moving, full-of-life images of babies, children, teens, adults, and elderly. The film includes country and cityscapes, synagogues, schools, and home life.

A scene from A Tapestry of Moments: Jewish Life Before the Holocaust, produced by Cortina Productions Inc.
The Theatre also includes options for two other films recommended based on age and preexisting knowledge. A Childhood Interrupted, is loosely based on the true story of one Holocaust survivor’s experiences from prewar life in Germany, her time in the concentration camps and her eventual immigration to Canada. This film uses animation created from historical photographs, imagery and narration to bring an individual’s experiences to life. This film was developed for young learners and those who have limited knowledge of the Holocaust.

A scene from Childhood Interrupted: A Young Girl During the Holocaust, produced by Cortina Productions Inc.
Setting the Stage for Genocide: Hitler and the Rise of Nazi Power offers advanced learners the opportunity to better understand the circumstances that needed to be in place in order for the Holocaust to happen. Through scenes and backplates of prewar and wartime Europe, this film takes viewers on an unimaginable journey back in history to uncover questions like, how could the Holocaust happen? What conditions need to be in place? How does a society give rise to fascism? This film is recommended for those with some background about the history, advanced learners and students in grade 9+.

A scene from Setting the Stage for Genocide: Hitler and the Rise of Nazi Power, produced by Cortina Productions Inc.

Storyliners

Experience the Museum through Augmented Reality

Visitor engaging with the tablet Storyliner AR experience at the Museum, 2023. Photo by Liora Kogan for the Toronto Holocaust Museum.

Storyliner tours are custom-designed interactive experiences developed for the Toronto Holocaust Museum that offer a tablet-based virtual exhibition tour with cutting-edge AR technology to help guide visitors through the Museum. After viewing an introduction film, the tablet offers a layered experience in the physical Museum that deepens and customizes content through an overlay of first-person accounts, artifacts, photos, and documents that supplement the displays. AR brings these components to life, enhancing the visitor experience. Historical Thinking Concepts and inquiry-based learning enable visitors to critically unpack the history and respond in real time to the experience and subject matter. The tour offers nine touchpoints beginning from early persecution in Nazi Germany all the way to the 21st-century.

Visitors learn about the events of the Holocaust and the individual experience by following one survivor who made their way to Canada. Explore the lives of George Brady, Faigie Libman, Gerda Frieberg and Nate Leipciger – co-founders of the original Holocaust Education and Memorial Centre, or Edith Gelbard (French-language), through AR technology. Each with their own unique story, visitors have the ability to dive deep into the experiences of these survivors through archival photographs, recorded testimony, documents and artifacts.
Learn more about the Holocaust through the lens of some of the experts and curators who helped bring the Museum to life. Go behind-the-scenes to unpack approaches, artifacts and various elements of the exhibition while taking a deep dive into the history. This tour offers layers of interaction and nuanced content to further enhance the Museum visit. Visitors will be prompted to consider deeper questions at each of the nine content stops. They can choose from an assortment of videos and actions that offer new insights and interpretation to enhance their experience and build understanding.
Based on a short, animated film developed for the new Museum, Childhood Interrupted allows visitors to follow a young German-Jewish girl named Yael and her family through the events of the Holocaust – and Yael, the sole survivor, postwar. Coming fall 2023.

Testimony Stations

Learn about the Holocaust through firsthand accounts

Developed to bring the narratives of the Holocaust to life through individual experiences, the testimony stations are prominently situated throughout the various exhibition spaces. Eleven interactive testimony stations enable visitors to explore the Holocaust through the lens of hundreds of individuals who survived, bringing life to the diverse and unique experiences of people during this time. The testimony stations feature Jewish stories of survival but also include other persecuted victim groups, shedding light on some of the lesser known narratives. Through inquiry-based learning, visitors are prompted to engage with questions reflecting their own interests and discovery. Alongside, other primary sources like artifacts and photographs, these stations dive deep into the individual story, circumstance and outcomes of Jews all across Nazi-occupied Europe.

Additionally, a special station is situated within the Atrocity & Devastation Gallery, with testimony and reflections on Nazi perpetrators and collaborators. Providing unique perspectives and insights into the decisions, choices and actions of those who enabled the persecution and atrocities of the Holocaust.

Interactive Timelines

Delve into the history of the Holocaust through in depth maps and timelines

Photo of the Interactive Timeline in the Life in Canada Gallery at the Toronto Holocaust Museum. Photo by Vito Amati for the Toronto Holocaust Museum.

The Holocaust spanned across Europe and affected many countries around the globe. The Museum’s Interactive Timelines encourage visitors to dive deeper into the history of the Holocaust by presenting opportunities to explore space, time and geography. Visitors select hotspots that change based on interactivity on the timeline. The timelines highlight important events and significant dates related to Holocaust history.

Beginning with the persecution of the Jews, the first timeline demonstrates the various rights taken from European Jews and others targeted by the Nazis including those deemed “undesirable.” As the expansion of the Nazi domination across Europe continues into the early 1940s, they advanced their state sponsored torture and killing of Jews and other victim peoples.

The Atrocity & Devastation timeline showcases various locations of concentration camps, ghettos, mobile killing units, and six killing centers and sheds light on the death marches.

The Liberation & Aftermath timeline focuses on the immediate aftermath of the war and Holocaust survivors’ long and non-linear journeys toward resettlement, including displaced persons camps and emigration.

Lastly, visitors have the opportunity to learn about immigration to, and life in Canada, not only for Holocaust survivors, but for various waves of immigrants who have settled in across the country and specifically, in Toronto.

We Who Survived

Explore the experiences of Toronto-based Holocaust survivors who contributed to the foundation and formation of Holocaust education

Holocaust survivor Howard Chandler engages with the We Who Survived interactive, 2023. Photo by Vito Amati.

A modernized version of the original We Who Survived (WWS) portrait gallery, the newly digitized interactive enables visitors to explore the experiences of Toronto-based survivor speakers and educators who contributed to the foundation of the Museum. Through biographies, photographs and artifacts, visitors have the opportunity to learn more about the lives of these witnesses. WWS affirm the importance of bearing witness and passing the torch of remembrance. Sharing their personal stories of survival, grief, and ultimately renewal with thousands of students and members of the public, these remarkable individuals have informed and inspired generations.

The original We Who Survived portrait installation is currently situated along the Herman Berenblum Promenade, on the 4th floor of the Lipa Green Centre. It remains a photographic tribute to the members of the former Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre survivor speakers’ bureau. Spearheaded by Holocaust survivors Judy Weissenberg Cohen and Elly Gotz in 2001, the project was officially completed in 2016 after four separate installations. Accompanying each contemporary portrait is an autobiographical sketch reflecting on a life lived before, during and after the Holocaust.

Meanwhile in Canada

Learn about what was happening in Canada during the Holocaust through pivotal events and moments

Photo of the Meanwhile in Canada panel in the Liberation & Aftermath Gallery at the Toronto Holocaust Museum. Photo by Vito Amati for the Toronto Holocaust Museum.

Meanwhile in Canada is a common thread weaved throughout the Museum’s experience. These carefully curated panels tell the stories of what was happening in Canada while the Holocaust was taking place overseas. It sheds light on the connections, news and what was known at the time. It enables visitors to think critically and deeply about themes of culpability and awareness. For students, these panels ground the Holocaust in the context of Canadian history and challenge us to consider questions about our country’s role in the Holocaust and our active role as citizens in civil society.