Dec. 2025
Wendy Schneider

Nearly 60 Holocaust survivor testimonies from the Greater Hamilton area will soon be accessible to the public through a new interactive installation at the Margaret’s Legacy Holocaust Learning and Jewish Advocacy Centre.

The collection — recorded for Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Visual History Foundation — was gathered in the late 1990s by community volunteer Judy Schwartz, who interviewed survivors from Hamilton and surrounding communities. Her daughters, Noa Daniel and Ora Goldin, together with their father, Dennis Schwartz, are now working to make those recordings publicly available as part of a new exhibit, set to open in October 2026, coinciding with Judy’s 80th birthday.
The installation, titled “Windows to Witness,” will allow visitors to search by keyword through all 57 interviews conducted by Schwartz, including her conversation with the late Margaret and Arthur Weisz, grandparents of Danna Horwood, whose survivor stories inspired the creation of the Margaret’s Legacy Centre.

The Weisz and Schwartz families shared a deep, decades-long friendship rooted in community service and a shared commitment to Holocaust remembrance. “We kept Danna and David Horwood involved in everything we were doing,” said Goldin. “We wanted to ensure it felt right for the space and true to her vision.”

The idea to license the interviews came from Jewish Federation CEO Gustavo Rymberg, after Daniel and Goldin approached him about honouring their mother’s lifelong dedication to Holocaust education. “Gustavo was an amazing collaborator from the start,” said Daniel. “He asked, ‘What about the interviews?’ and it was like — of course! How did we not think of that?”

In conversations with the Shoah Foundation, the sisters learned their mother had been among the project’s most prolific volunteers. “They were effusive about her work,” said Daniel, recalling the countless hours Schwartz spent preparing interviews and building trust with survivors.

Schwartz later deepened those bonds as outreach chair of Federation’s Holocaust education committee, launching a speakers bureau that brought survivors into schools and to Federation’s annual student symposium on the Holocaust, attended by up to 1,200 students. “My mother really ingrained herself in Holocaust education,” said Daniel. “She’d pick survivors up, stay with them through their talks, and help them decompress afterward. Many had never spoken publicly before.”

Schwartz brought the same passion to her 16 years as director of the Jewish Student Association at McMaster University, where she championed interfaith dialogue at a time when antisemitism on campus was emerging. “Her whole model was that Abraham came out of the tent,” said Goldin. “She always asked — How can we build understanding?”

Schwartz learned about the project on Sept. 26, when her daughters surprised her at JHamilton with an image on a screen reading Gibora Yehudiya — Hebrew for “Jewish heroine.” “She truly is a Jewish heroine,” said Goldin. “She’s humble, and her work has always been about others. While this project honours her, it’s really about creating a living legacy.”

The family plans to fundraise for the project over the next year. “We want it done well — something that truly serves the community and offers an entry point for families for generations,” said Goldin.

For those interested in contributing, please visit hamiltonjewishfederation.givingfuel.com/windows-to-witness.