821 Ste-Croix, St-Laurent QC H4L 3X9 Tel: 514.744.7500 Fax: For514.744.7505 Immediate Release [email protected] www.vaniercollege.qc.ca VANIER NEWS RELEASE CÉGEP / COLLEGE 821 Ste-Croix, Montréal QC H4L 3X9 Tel: 514.744.7500 Fax: 514.744.7505 [email protected] www.vaniercollege.qc.ca Vanier College Students to visit Europe to learn about moral responsibility and global citizenship Montreal, May 23, 2017. Vanier College and the Holocaust Education and Genocide Prevention Foundation is marking the 25th Anniversary of the Annual Symposium on the Holocaust and Genocide at Vanier College with a student trip, Moral Responsibility and Global Citizenship, May 25-June 5, 2017. Twenty-two Vanier students and one Dawson student will embark on an eleven-day trip to Austria and Italy. Austrian Honorary Consul General, Marc Bissell, son of a Holocaust survivor from Vienna, will participate on the trip. Two Vanier graduates, currently Concordia film students, will also accompany the students in order to film and document the journey with a view to creating four 7-minute pedagogical films. The units are intended to raise awareness of the need to assume moral responsibility when confronted with racism and discrimination. In Austria, students will visit Vienna, Mauthausen and Linz; in Italy, they will travel to Verona, Florence and Rome. While some of the trip involves cultural tours and visits, most of the visits focus on the theme Moral Responsibility and Global Citizenship and include the following: Vienna, Rathaus Tour and Welcome, City Councillor and Mayoral Representative, Mag. Tanja Wehsely Reception, Canadian Ambassador to Austria, Mark Bailey, Ambassador’s residence Round table discussion Dr. Andreas Maislinger, Founder and Chairman of the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service Meeting with Caritas Vienna Fundraising Director, Ingrid Rachbauer at Magda’s Hotel which is operated by refugees Tours of the Holocaust Memorial Site and the Jewish Museum Tour of former Mauthausen Concentration Camp Meeting with Niklas Frank son of former Nazi, Hans Frank who was sentenced to death by the International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, A Nazi Legacy: What Our Fathers Did Rome: Intercultural student exchange with Italian Muslim students addressing contemporary global issues Rome: Meeting in the Vatican with Father Norbert Hoffmann, Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations Rome: Tour of the Jewish Museum and the Great Synagogue of Rome in the Jewish Quarter The trip aims to promote intercultural dialogue and the development of critical thinking, instill a sense of civic and moral responsibility we have towards one another as members of the global community and inculcate in students the importance of developing a historical perspective when examining current events. “Students will discover the importance of avoiding simple answers to complex questions by examining the experiences of both Italian and Austrian Jews during the Holocaust and to learning to contextualize historical events,” says Vanier teacher Marlene Grossman, one of the principal organizers of the trip. -30- For information please contact: Marguerite Corriveau, Vanier Communications 514-744-7500 ext. 7596 [email protected] .