2–9 November The Future of Memory

closing night
Bringing the Rimonim Home:
A Personal Restitution Journey
Wednesday, 9 November, 8:00 PM
In honour of closing night of Holocaust Education Week, Austrian
National Fund director Hannah Lessing shares the compelling
account of an unexpected and personal act of restitution. More
than 75 years after Kristallnacht, Lessing discovered that a pair of
silver Torah finials (rimonim) originally owned by her family was
included in an Israeli auction house catalogue. Looted by the Nazis
from a Vienna synagogue during the massive pogroms that took
place on November 9–10, 1938, the finials appeared to have been
purchased in good faith as part of a Judaica collection. Lessing will
share the story of the discovery of the Judaica and her journey to
bring them home to her 92-year-old father, photographer Erich
Lessing, the sole survivor of his family. On the 78th anniversary
of the Kristallnacht pogrom, this program will explore the
ongoing relevance of restitution on a personal, national and
global scale, and the lingering impact of the events of
Kristallnacht generations later.
Hannah Lessing is Secretary General of the National Fund of the Republic of Austria and
the General Settlement Fund for Victims of National Socialism, as well as the Fund for the
Restoration of the Jewish Cemeteries in Austria. The National Fund of the Republic of Austria
for Victims of National Socialism awards a symbolic payment to persons of Austrian origin
who were persecuted by the National Socialist Regime during the Second World War.
She is responsible for the administrative and organizational management of the three
funds, which carry out their work in remembrance of the victims. She is co-head of the
Austrian delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)
and a highly sought after international speaker. Last year, she curated an exhibition
of her father’s photography at the Jewish Museum Vienna.
Closing Night of HEW will also include a candle-lighting ceremony commemorating
the 78th anniversary of Kristallnacht.
Wednesday, 9 November | 8:00 PM
Temple Sinai
210 Wilson Avenue | Toronto
416–487–4161
Closing Night of Holocaust Education Week is
generously co-sponsored by Apotex Foundation,
Honey & Barry Sherman; by Eleanor & Martin
Maxwell, in memory of his sisters, Josephine
and Erna Meisels, who died in the Holocaust;
and by Scotiabank Bathurst & Sheppard Branch.
Neuberger Holocaust Education Week 9