Read the original article published in the Winnipeg Free Press on January 6, 2017 here.

 

Responses:

 

Adam Levene, President, Jewish Federation of Winnipeg:

It is precisely because this type of incident in Winnipeg is rare that it is so surprising and hateful.

The Einzatsgruppen were the mobile killing squads whose task was to kill Jews. They initially used bullets in their activities. However, bullets were very expensive. The idea of killing centres or death camps was developed, I believe, to reduce the costs of the killing enterprise.

Not everyone knows the term “Einzatsgruppen” or the specificity of their mandate. It is therefore so disheartening to see the term on the rock. This was written by someone who has some knowledge about the Holocaust. What a shame. However, it goes to show that we still have education to undertake.

I am very pleased that the Winnipeg Police Service is involved and that they consider this a hate crime. I am also pleased to see that there is discussion currently on the nature and definition of hate crimes.

Shahina Siddiqui, Islamic Social Services Association:

Winnipeg Muslims stand with the Jewish family that was the target of a hate message delivered to their doorstep. We share their shock and pain and are in prayer for their healing. 

To witness anti-Semitism in this brazen manner is not what we expect in Winnipeg, and we feel violated by this.

We want the Jewish community to know that they can count on us to be there for them, stand in solidarity with them and advocate against anti-Semitism and all other forms of xenophobia.

Hate against one Canadian is hate against all of us. Joining me in this assertion are Shahzad Mussadiq of the Canadian Muslim Leadership Institute, Idris Knapp of the Winnipeg Central Mosque and Albert Eltassi of the Alhijra Islamic School.

Rev. Dr. Loraine Mackenzie Shepherd, Westworth United Church, Winnipeg:

As members of various religious communities within Winnipeg, we are deeply troubled by the act of hate directed toward a Jewish woman in Wolseley. We stand united against acts of violence or hate directed toward any person because of their race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, gender or sexual orientation. There is no room within our inclusive, peace-loving city for such behaviour.

​Mary Scott, Terumi Kuwada, Jan Christie, Dennis Lewycky, Peter Remple, Shahina Siddiqui, Diane Dwarka, Winnipeg:

​It is precisely because this type of incident in Winnipeg is rare that it is so surprising and hateful.

The Einzatsgruppen were the mobile killing squads whose task was to kill Jews. They initially used bullets in their activities. However, bullets were very expensive. The idea of killing centres or death camps was developed, I believe, to reduce the costs of the killing enterprise.

Not everyone knows the term “Einzatsgruppen” or the specificity of their mandate. It is therefore so disheartening to see the term on the rock. This was written by someone who has some knowledge about the Holocaust. What a shame. However, it goes to show that we still have education to undertake.

I am very pleased that the Winnipeg Police Service is involved and that they consider this a hate crime. I am also pleased to see that there is discussion currently on the nature and definition of hate crimes.

Belle Jarniewski, President, Manitoba Multifaith Council, Winnipeg:

The Dec. 31 hate crime that targeted a Jewish family in Wolseley referenced Nazi imagery and hateful language associated with the extermination of six million Jews in the Shoah to send its message of hate, to threaten and to instil fear. It is perhaps indicative of what has been happening all over the United States and Canada — certain limits are being transgressed.

In the wake of the American election and the rise of the white supremacist alt-right movement, references to Nazi imagery have proliferated, and the Wolseley hate crime is an example among many others in recent weeks, such as the defacement of a sign in front of Hebrew Union College Seminary in Cincinnati with a swastika or a Hanukkah menorah outside an Arizona home that was vandalized overnight and twisted into the shape of a swastika. In Whitefish, Mont., neo-Nazis have threatened an "armed march on the Jews" on Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Jan. 16), in an action targeting "Jews, Jewish business, and everyone who supports either."

Neo-Nazism and white supremacy are not new ideologies that have suddenly emerged in Canada or in the United States. Ernst Zundel is well known to Canadians as a neo-Nazi and Holocaust denier, but as early as the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups made inroads into Canada. These groups never really disappear; they simply ebb and flow as events and the political climate allow.

We must be vigilant against this trend and stand together in rejecting this kind of ugliness — and I’m proud to say that in Winnipeg that is exactly what we are doing. If there is anything positive to learn (if one can even use the word "positive" when referring to a hate crime) when reflecting on this latest act: it made the front page. That signifies how deeply affected we are by this sort of ugliness. We care. We are neither apathetic nor jaded. We remain shocked by such acts of hate. As well, we support each other. Within hours, messages poured in from members of other faith communities offering support. And that is the way things go in our city whenever one of us is attacked — we stand together. Things have changed very much from the dark days of the 1930s when "none was too many."

We appreciate the efforts of the Winnipeg Police Service as they investigate this hate crime and we hope that the family that was targeted will be comforted by the response of the countless individuals who care.