MONTREAL — Few people had a chance to see the Dec. 18 obituary for Mayer Schondorf in the Gazette, because it appeared only once.
But word-of-mouth and e-mail were enough to fill Paperman & Sons funeral home the same day for a rare 8:30 a.m. funeral for Schondorf, a prominent Holocaust survivor who died suddenly from a massive stroke the previous day at age 81.
Schondorf’s body was flown to Israel after Shabbat for burial, but at Paperman’s, the disproportionately high number of young people was a telling indication of the respect and affection they had for him.
Schondorf and his wife, Rena, also a Holocaust survivor, were reliable presences, linked arm-in-arm, on Israel Experience’s annual March of the Living trip to Poland and Israel for high school students.
They participated in the march seven times, most recently last spring.
“His impact on young people was two-fold,” Rabbi Reuben Poupko, one of two rabbis who delivered eulogies at the funeral, told The CJN. “The first was his ability to tell his story in a moving and compelling way. The second was his character, his bearing and personality, the way he was with young people. He was an inspiration.”
That echoed the sentiments of Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz of Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem synagogue, who also delivered a eulogy.
Schondorf and his wife “insisted on accompanying the March of the Living… because they saw stories about Holocaust denial and understood the need to tell their story. They needed to be a link to another era,” Rabbi Steinmetz said.
“The marchers were automatically drawn to Mayer and Rena… [because] Mayer was not only telling them how he survived, but also why he survived. He wanted to recreate a Jewish life, a Jewish world.”
The gentlemanly and amiable Schondorf and his spouse were also active in transmitting the legacy of the Holocaust to non-Jews, said Alice Herscovitch, executive director of the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre (MHMC).
Herscovitch said the Schondorfs, besides addressing audiences during the centre’s annual Holocaust Education Series and speaking to hundreds of Jewish and non-Jewish students during the school year, also spoke to a group of young Rwandans only two months ago.
“There are no elders in their community [due to the Rwandan genocide], Herscovitch said. “He told them how it was possible to build their lives again.”
She added that Schondorf also played a role in developing the MHMC museum and served as a docent there.
Schondorf is survived by his wife Rena Leinkram, son Ronald, daughter Debbie Eisenberg, 10 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
