Hear what our students are saying about the project:

“Working on the Hear Our Voices Project has been an eye-opening experience. Through my research I have been able to learn so much about the Holocaust, its impacts today, and the breadth and depth of contemporary antisemitism. This knowledge has allowed me to make meaningful contributions to this incredible project which is making information accessible to Canada for free. Your donations allow us to continue this vital work at a time when antisemitism and Holocaust denial is on the rise among Canadian youth. Every dollar counts.”

 – HOV Research Assistant 2025, Josh, Second Year History and Geography student (featured in video above)

“Working on the Hear Our Voices film and online education project has been truly impactful to me as a history student. As a research assistant, I have been able to encounter the horrors of the Holocaust and the impact that it still has on individuals, their families, and the Jewish community, over eighty years later. With the rise of antisemitism since October 7th, it has never been more important to conduct this research and to make it free and easily accessible.”

– HOV Research Assistant 2025, Bryanna, MA History

“Working for the Zelikovitz Centre on the Hear Our Voices project has truly been one of the highlights of my university experience. During my undergrad, the original HOV Pressbook was a valued resource that aided me greatly in understanding of the true magnitude of the Holocaust, as well as the importance in how these stories get told. With the continual rise of antisemitism, the work we are doing to update the HOV Project is needed now more than ever. There is currently a gap in accessible and reliable resources with the ability to provide a comprehensive education on contemporary antisemitism, and that is a gap we are seeking to fill. With your support we can continue working towards filling this gap, and ensure educators and students across Canada have access to accurate and reliable information about the Holocaust and antisemitism.”

– HOV Research Assistant 2025, Chloe, Religion program, recent graduate

“As a history student, the opportunity to research and preserve Holocaust history has been extremely impactful. Working on Hear Our Voices as a research assistant has helped me understand how to help preserve this history and share it. I believe history should be accessible to all, however, this history is being directly challenged. Along with the rise of unreliable news, antisemitism, and anti-Jewish violence, our work at the Zelikovitz Centre is crucial. We all need to work together to ensure Holocaust and Jewish history gets taught in schools to stop further Holocaust denial and distortion from future generations.”

– HOV Research Assistant 2025, Gracie, Fourth Year History and Film student (featured in video below)

Learn more .

Professor Deidre Butler is now working on the next stage of the Hear Our Voices Project. We are now reworking the footage that was filmed for the online project and expanding on it to develop new educational film documentaries that begin with individual stories to educate about the Holocaust and antisemitism.

Work on the first film is now entering the final stages of pre-production. This documentary will be centred on Professor Jan Grabowski, who is both a Holocaust historian and member of the Second Generation. The film examines his family’s survival in Poland under Aryan papers, how Jan discovered his family’s hidden history, and how his research led to his prosecution and persecution by the Polish Government.

To support this film, Professor Butler completed additional filming in Poland and Germany in February 2024. Our work there included additional interviews with Professor Grabowski as he explained the current efforts to rewrite Holocaust history at Treblinka, as well as an interview with Professor Jan T. Gross, a Polish-American historian born in Warsaw, whose foundational research on Polish-Jewish relations during and after the Shoah has significantly shaped the field. We also interviewed Dr. Elzbieta Janicka, a scholar at the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, who provided insight on state-driven Holocaust distortion and double genocide narratives in Poland.

During this time, we also had the opportunity to begin filming in Budapest for the second documentary film which will focus on Tom Deri, a child survivor of the Holocaust. Professor Butler and Professor Walker traveled to Budapest to further research and document Mr. Deri’s experiences.  Professor Butler interviewed Professor Ildiko Barna of Eotvos Lorand University, whose research focuses on Holocaust displacement and post-war identity, and Dr Andras Zima, Director of the Holocaust Memorial Centre in Budapest. These interviews were key to explaining Mr. Deri’s experiences and survival in Budapest as well as the distinct history of the Holocaust in Hungary, and how the Holocaust is remembered in Hungary today.

Moving forward, we are wrapping up work on the Jan Grabowski film and planning the development of new modules for the HOV Pressbook that will draw on the research gathered throughout this phase. As part of this final stage, we are filming the final scholarly interviews.  This will include filming Professor Samuel Kassow, one of the leading historians of East European Jewry, for his expertise on pre-war Jewish life, as well as his own insight as a member of the Second Generation and Professor Piotr Forecki from Adam Mickiewicz University, whose research examines contemporary antisemitism and Holocaust distortion in Poland. These interviews will support the Jan Grabowski film and will also serve as resources for creating new educational content for the original HOV pressbook.

This phase of Hear Our Voices is an exciting one as the project is dynamically growing in both scope and reach. By filming on location and conducting interviews with leading scholars and survivors, we are adding new layers of historical insight and educational value. Thanks to the ongoing support of our community, this work continues to move forward, and we are excited to share the next developments as they take shape.

Interested in supporting this important initiative? Visit our .

Want to learn more? Listen to the testimonials of our students.

Our thoughts are turning to International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Saturday, January 27, 2024.

As we remember those who perished and those who survived today, we are also caught in the memory of the atrocities of October 7 and the horror of hostages who are still suffering.

We hear and heed the warning of David Shentow who spoke to so many students here at ÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ that when people show their hate of Jews we must face that hatred.

In the last 111 days, our work here at the Zelikovitz Centre for Jewish Studies has focused on supporting students and fellow faculty who suffer the cumulative intimidation, harassment, misinformation, and incitement to hate that has risen up on Canadian campuses and across Canada.  We continue to take every case of antisemitism on this campus seriously and redouble our efforts and our commitment to supporting and advancing the scholarship and teaching of the Holocaust and Antisemitism.

Deidre Butler, Director
Pamela Walker, Associate Director: Research and Community Outreach