“As students, you represent the future. The Holocaust may seem distant, but its lessons are as relevant today as ever. It's crucial that we don't forget. When we learn about the Holocaust, we're also learning how to see the warning signs of hate and discrimination. The Nazis used language to make Jewish people seem less than human, which made it easier for others to treat them badly. This is why we need to be cautious and skillful with the words we use and the things we say about other people.”

 

The central message of Saturday’s service was delivered by Rev. Selinde Krayenhoff, the daughter of members of the Dutch Resistance and wife of Rev. Jim Holland, Shawnigan’s soon-to-be Chaplain Emeritus.

 

Rev. Krayenhoff’s father Wim and mother Ima were both just 20 years of age when the Nazis invaded the Netherlands in 1940. Seeing what the occupying soldiers were doing, Wim and Ima – who only barely knew each other at the time – felt an obligation to oppose the invasion, and joined the Resistance, countering Nazi misinformation, protecting countrymen who had been forced to go underground, and assisting downed Allied pilots in their return to England.

 

Wim and Ima were both arrested in 1944, just weeks apart. Wim later wrote a memoir that focuses on the harrowing time between his arrest and his liberation as he was moved from concentration camp to concentration camp. He was fortunate to escape death multiple times. There is no way to know how many lives Rev. Krayenhoff’s parents saved through their efforts in the Dutch Resistance.

 

“Of course, I also am so very glad my father and my mother survived. If not, I would not be here today addressing you all,” she said. “Too many people, including an unbelievable number of Jews, did not survive, do not have children to honour their memory. The world has been deprived of those people's gifts, talents, humour, love and service.

 

"I am here today, sharing some of my parents' story of their life during WWII, not to impress you, but to honour them and to honour their contribution to the freedom we need to cherish and work to protect.”

 

On Monday, the dessert at lunch was orange cake, the recipe for which was brought to the School by Alex Buckman, who survived the Holocaust as a child. Mr. Buckman’s aunt, Rachel Buckman Teitelbaum, hid the recipe throughout the war, along with other recipes she transcribed from women at the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Mr. Buckman visited Shawnigan regularly to speak about Holocaust Remembrance Day until he passed away in April 2023, and we continue to share his message with the Shawnigan community.