September 29, 2010; Source: Montreal Gazette | A Canadian Foundation is going to extra lengths to make sure the stories of aging Holocaust survivors get wide distribution. In addition to collecting memoirs from Holocaust survivors living in Canada for a forthcoming series of books, the Azreil Foundation of Montreal is making excerpted snippets available on Twitter ahead of the publications’ launch.
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Currently brief summaries—no longer than Twitter’s 140-word character count—taken from the memoirs of 97-year-old Anka Voticky are being tweeted three times daily. Here’s a sample: “In March 1940 I went to the police headquarters to get our exit visas. I thought it was safer for a woman than a man. Arnold waited in fear.”
Naomi Azrieli, chairperson and executive director of the Azreil Foundation, says by using social media, “we have the potential to reach an audience of millions that we simply would never have reached.” Azreil says she hopes the Twitter campaign whets readers’ appetites for more so they’ll either download free copies from the foundation’s website or purchase printed editions in bookstores for a nominal fee.—Bruce Trachtenberg
