Montreal Museum Offers Free Sundays for Holocaust Education

Montreal is turning Holocaust Remembrance Day into a months-long commitment to education, making survivor testimonies accessible to everyone who wants to learn.

The Montreal Holocaust Museum announced free admission every Sunday from January 25 through June 30, ensuring cost never stops anyone from learning about the Holocaust. This generous offer goes beyond Quebec's recently ended first-Sunday program, giving families weekly opportunities to connect with history.

"Our priority has been to tell survivor stories," said Sarah Fogg, the museum's head of communications. "That's what January 27th should really be about."

The museum kicked off its Holocaust Remembrance Day programming with a screening of "Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire," followed by a discussion with Elisha Wiesel about his father's legacy. Elie Wiesel survived Auschwitz and dedicated his life to fighting injustice worldwide, becoming a renowned author and human rights advocate.

A special pop-up exhibit called "Witnesses to History, Keepers of Memory" displays photos and personal objects from 30 Montreal Holocaust survivors through February 1. Each item tells a story of resilience and survival that deserves remembering.

Education is spreading beyond museum walls too. John Rennie High School welcomed Barbara Cieply, daughter of survivor Regina Kleinberg-Cieply, to share her mother's testimony with Grade 10 students.

History teacher Raquel Lobaton organizes this annual event because she believes every generation needs to learn these lessons. "I teach about the Holocaust and many genocides," Lobaton explained. "I feel it is very important that every generation of students learns about this."

The Ripple Effect

McGill University joined the city-wide effort with a special lecture on Holocaust history in France, while schools across Montreal integrated remembrance programming into their curricula. These coordinated efforts create countless opportunities for young people to hear survivor stories before that generation is gone.

The free Sunday admission continues until summer 2026, when the museum's permanent exhibit will be dismantled and reimagined at a new downtown location. Until then, every weekend offers Montrealers a chance to honor the past while building a more compassionate future.

"Together we learn, we remember, and we try to build a world that's better than the one survivors knew," Fogg said.