Montrealers grieve murdered Holocaust survivor
Oscar Véron Weismann didn’t know the woman he stood in the rain to commemorate Thursday night. But in a sense, he said, she could have been anyone’s grandmother.
On July 16, 1942, Weismann’s grandfather was arrested during the Nazi-directed Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup in Paris. Mireille Knoll was arrested the same day. Both ultimately escaped.
His grandfather, Joseph, is still alive today, living in France. But Knoll, 85, was brutally stabbed to death in her Paris apartment last week in what authorities are calling an anti- Semitic crime.
“We’re here to show unity and solidarity and love for each other,” Weismann, 24, said outside the French consulate in Montreal, where a few dozen people gathered in Knoll’s honour.
“We’re here to beat this hatred and anti- Semitism we see growing not only in France and in Europe, but also in North America,” he said.
Mourners braved the rain and held umbrellas above tealight candles surrounding photos of Knoll. They erected Quebec’s flag beside France’s and stood for a moment of silence.
The brutal killing — Knoll was reportedly stabbed 11 times and set on fire — has sparked several rallies decrying anti-Semitism in France and across Europe in the days since. News reports have described Knoll as a peaceful woman who escaped the horrors of the Holocaust to live in a simple apartment in Paris’ 11th Arrondissement.
Two suspects, men in their 20s, have been arrested.
“She lived through things most people can’t imagine and probably never believed she would live through worse,” said Yohan Mamane, 20, who helped plan Thursday ’s vigil. “It’s unbelievable and we’ve had enough. The world needs a little more humanity.”
Addressing the crowd, Rabbi Reuben Poupko said it would have been wrong if no one gathered and expressed outrage after the way Knoll was killed.
“A Jew died for no other reason than because she was a Jew,” Poupko said.
“We are here to do our small part. To raise a voice,” he added. “To express concern and to express our strength: that in every generation we will have the strength and the decency and the goodness to continue to struggle in a unified way against all forms of hatred and racism.”
Poupko looked around at the crowd gathered — most were younger members of the city’s Jewish community — and noted the signs printed out for the occasion: “Together against violence”; “Stop anti-Semitism”; “Stop racism.”
“We’ve held those signs for a long time,” he said.