For 48 days beginning September 25, the names of 661,818 soldiers and nurses on all sides of the First World War will be digitally displayed at more than 60 locations around the world. The Mennonite Archives of Ontario will be one of these locations.
Canadian actor R.H. Thomson initiated the commemoration, called “The World Remembers.” It is a unique expression of remembrance, reconciliation and education, and shows the enormous human cost of the war. The website www.theworldremembers.org has a database to look up names and the exact times they will appear in the display.
The display runs concurrently with the Archives exhibit “Sites of Nonresistance: Ontario Mennonites and the First World War.” War monuments, cenotaphs and honour rolls remind us daily of the most dramatic and familiar stories of war. "Sites of Nonresistance" tells war stories of a different kind, as Mennonites tried to navigate the passage between their 400-year-old peace tradition and Canadian society engaged in its first modern war.
Underlying this exhibit are the questions: Why are these stories not more well known? How does our society choose which events and places of the past to commemorate? What does it mean to remember war?
Classes and members of the public are welcome. Admission is free. The Archives is located on the 3rd floor of the Conrad Grebel University College academic wing. For more information, see: uwaterloo.ca/grebel/nonresistance.
Contact:
Laureen Harder-Gissing,
Archivist, Mennonite Archives of Ontario
Conrad Grebel University College
lharderg@uwaterloo.ca
519-885-0220 x24238
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