Holocaust Remembrance Hoax

B’nai Brith Canada’s Name Used for Dissemination of Holocaust Denial Material

April 19, 2001

For Immediate Release

Vancouver… (April 19, 2001) B’nai Brith Canada was alarmed to learn that a video denying the Holocaust was sent to teachers in Vernon, BC along with a letter on what looked like B’nai Brith Canada letterhead, asking them to show the video to their students today on Yom Hashoah or Holocaust Memorial Day.

The packages appear to have been sent by the Calgary office of B’nai Brith Canada but the letters are a vicious hoax. In fact, the information and letterhead used indicating its origins seem to have been mocked up from graphics from the Internet. The covering letter contains several factual errors and is signed by a non-existent staff person. The letter states that the Canadian government has declared April 19, 2001 as a "Day of Holocaust Remembrance," which is also false. In fact, 8 provinces, including British Columbia, have made such a declaration but the federal government has not as yet.

A Vernon Secondary School teacher received the video and was sufficiently alarmed by the historical distortions to contact the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre. National Director of the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada, Dr. Karen Mock stated that no such video has been mailed to schools either by her organization or any regional office. The Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre and B’nai Brith Canada have alerted police, who are working co-operatively with the R.C.M.P. on this case.

“It’s disgusting to think that anyone would distribute Holocaust denial material and try to dress it up as appropriate for anything, let alone to commemorate the millions of Jews and others who perished during that horrible time,” said Isaac Aptowitzer, president of the B’nai Brith Canada Calgary Lodge who was shocked to hear of the hoax, “I hope that people’s common sense prevails and they don’t associate B’nai Brith Canada or the Calgary Jewish community with such propaganda.”

Dennis Hamaguchi, Director of Instruction and Curriculum of the Vernon District School Board has alerted all administrators to instruct teachers not to use the video. Educators who are interested in legitimate Holocaust resources are asked to contact either the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre (ph. 604-264-0499, fax 604-264-0497, e-mail info@vhec.org, web site )www.vhec.org or B’nai Brith Canada (ph. 416-633-6224, or 1-800-892-2624, fax 416-630-2159, e-mail league@bnaibrith.ca).

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B’nai Brith Canada, active in Canada since 1875, is the community’s senior advocacy and volunteer organization.
Its Institute for International Affairs was established to monitor events in the Middle East, as well as human rights throughout the world.

For more information, please contact:
Dr. Karen Mock, Director, League for Human Rights - (416 )802-1105 (cell)
Amelia Golden, Community Relations Coordinator, League for Human Rights - (416) 802-2163
Frieda Miller, Education Co-ordinator, Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre - (604) 264-0499