When Frank Ekstein (z”l) gave the initial gift to create the Anita Ekstein Holocaust Resource Collection, it came as quite a surprise to his wife.

“I did not know anything about it until just before the name went up,” explained Anita. “I had been involved with the Holocaust Centre as co-chair for a while, as well as speaking to students since 1988, and he knew how important education, to foster understanding and tolerance, was to both of us.”

Now, over a decade later, through a generous gift to the Tomorrow Campaign, Anita is returning the favour with the naming and expansion of the Frank and Anita Ekstein Holocaust Resource Collection.

“At the time, I tried to convince him to change the name… but he wanted it to be just for me. I know that it was also important to him,” she said, “and now, I want to honour his memory with something he believed in.”

The enhanced Frank & Anita Ekstein Holocaust Resource Collection will be a key feature of the future Sarah & Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre on Sherman Campus. The existing materials, currently housed in the Lipa Green Centre, will continue to grow, adding to an already impressive collection of books, survivor testimonies, archival materials, videos, DVDs and other multi-media components.

“Anita and her dear, late husband Frank, have always been mindful that education – helping people to understand what atrocities, bigotry and anti-Semitism can do to a people and to individuals – is critical,” said Lorraine Sandler, Chair of the Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre.

“Through this incredible gift, the Ekstein family, will ensure that these lessons will be learned, survivor stories will be enshrined and scholarship on the Shoah will be permanently documented.”

In the spring of 1939, Frank and his family fled Czechoslovakia, and were among the few Jews allowed into Canada as farmers prior to the war. Anita survived the Holocaust as a hidden child in Poland and eventually made her way to Canada at the age of 14. The Toronto Jewish community helped her to build a new life here, and she vowed that when she was able, she would give back.

As a long-time UJA volunteer, survivor speaker, National Chair of the March of the Living, Chair of the Jewish Foundation’s Book of Life, and now, with this important capital gift, Anita has indeed followed through on that promise.

“My hope is that the resource collection will become known as the place for study and research,” she said, “for now and for future generations of students as well as educators.”