Gershon Willinger

Gershon in his home, Richmond Hill, Ontario

Gershon with wife Jane

Gershon and Jane with their grown children and grandchildren

Gershon and his cousin Rosalie in Israel

Ink drawing of Gershon’s synagogue when he lived in St. Catherines, Ontario

Gershon’s siddur (prayerbook), teffilin and tallis bag

My name is Gershon Israel Willinger, Israel was given by the Nazi regime. I was born September 1942 in Amsterdam Holland, where I grew up. Left Holland at 18 immigrated to Israel, went to the kibbutz, then I went into the army in 1961. I served two and a half years as a paratrooper. Then I studied social work. I became a social worker, working with only youth. We left Israel in 1984. We have been here since in Canada, December of 1977. Raised our children here, our three children, seven grandchildren. I'm retired. I speak for the Holocaust Center of Toronto and for the Simon Wiesenthal Center. It is something that has to be told to the world, I have a responsibility to my parents and I have responsibility to my children and to Holocaust deniers I have a responsibility.

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