About Judy
Although Judy was born after the Holocaust, its lessons shaped her from an early age. Reading The Diary of Anne Frank as a young girl sparked a lifelong commitment to understanding not only the tragedy of the Holocaust, but the resilience, courage, and humanity of those who survived it.
When they got married, Judy and Dennis Schwartz made aliyah. They left Israel for a variety of reasons, but what never left Judy was her commitment to the State of Israel and the Jewish people.
Since moving to Burlington in 1974, Judy has dedicated more than five decades to strengthening Jewish identity, fostering understanding across communities, and turning compassion into action. Through countless volunteer roles across Hamilton and beyond, she has embodied the belief that community is something we build through commitment, generosity, and service.
Judy's leadership has touched nearly every corner of Jewish communal life — the Hamilton Jewish Federation, Beth Jacob Synagogue and Sisterhood, the National Council of Jewish Women, Hadassah-WIZO, Israel Bonds, the Jewish National Fund, McMaster University's Jewish Students Association, interfaith initiatives, and Holocaust education programs. Across all of them, she has brought people together, built partnerships, and created opportunities for learning and connection. She is known not only for her dedication, but for her ability to turn vision into action.
Preserving Survivor Voices: A Legacy of Holocaust Education
One of Judy's most enduring contributions has been her work in Holocaust education and survivor testimony.
In 1994, Judy was selected as an interviewer for the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, established by Steven Spielberg to preserve the testimonies of Holocaust survivors and witnesses. As a volunteer, she devoted hundreds of hours to interviewing Holocaust survivors from the Hamilton area, ensuring their experiences would be preserved for future generations.She interviewed and recorded the testimony of 57 Hamilton and GHA survivors whose stories have been curated and are accessible to the public through Windows to Witness.
Building a Culture of Holocaust Education
Judy's commitment continued through her leadership with the Holocaust Education Committee of the Hamilton Jewish Federation. Joining the committee in 1998, she became instrumental in expanding Holocaust education programming across the region, helping develop the Survivor Speakers Bureau — connecting Holocaust survivors with thousands of students and educators, and giving young people the chance to encounter history through personal testimony.
Under her leadership, the committee built and grew programs including:
- educator seminars
- facilitator training workshops
- survivor presentation preparation
Her work forged meaningful partnerships with educators and school boards, helping shape genocide and human rights education across Hamilton schools.
A Lifetime of Community Building
Beyond Holocaust education, Judy's impact reaches across the broader community.
As a dedicated volunteer with the Hamilton Jewish Federation for more than three decades, Judy served in numerous leadership roles — supporting campaigns, interfaith initiatives, community outreach, and advocacy, and building bridges with churches, community organizations, educators, and diverse cultural groups across Hamilton.
At Beth Jacob Synagogue, she served in leadership roles for many years, including as President of the Sisterhood and as a Board Member, and was a strong advocate for meaningful participation and leadership opportunities for women.
Through Israel Bonds and the Jewish National Fund, Judy demonstrated her commitment to Israel and global Jewish communities, earning recognition for her outstanding service. Through Hadassah-WIZO and the National Council of Jewish Women, she supported initiatives in education, health, social welfare, and the enrichment of Jewish life. She also helped inspire the effort that made McMaster University the first institution in Canada to provide access to the complete Visual History Archive of Holocaust survivor testimonies.
Her civic and interfaith work extended still further. Judy was chosen as the sole representative of the Jewish community on Ontario's anti-racism board, and later as one of just 12 (from a pool of 35 across Hamilton) selected for intermediate training in interfaith mediation at the University of Guelph. She took her work into churches, Baháʼí temples, and Christian women's groups, teaching about Judaism through ritual objects and interactive dialogue, and served on two interfaith councils alongside Rabbi Salzberg in Hamilton. In Catholic and public schools alike, she brought Jewish traditions to life through hands-on experience and conversation.
As Executive Director of the Jewish Students Association (now Hillel) at McMaster University from 1998 to 2014, Judy built interfaith relationships across the campus community and organized a program honouring the pink triangle — a memorial commemorating those persecuted for their homosexuality during the Holocaust.
Judy’s generosity extended beyond organized community roles, too. As a fundraiser and canvasser for arthritis, heart and stroke, and cancer research, and a committee member for lupus fundraising.
Judy is in love with Judaism. She thinks it has great ideas to teach the world about how to live. She is driven to be as educated as possible about Jewish tradition, history, and teachings, which is why she continues to participate in book clubs, Torah study, and a variety of classes. Through her continuous learning, Judy feels a deep sense of pride and joy in being Jewish, and it has helped her to continue to become the person she wants to be.
Across every organization and every role, Judy carried the same message: communities become stronger when people choose to contribute.
The Heart of Windows to Witness
That philosophy is at the heart of Windows to Witness.
Judy believes that every survivor's testimony is both a gift and a responsibility. As the generation of Holocaust survivors grows smaller, preserving their voices becomes increasingly urgent. Through this project, visitors are invited not only to learn about history, but to encounter individuals whose experiences remind us of the consequences of hatred and the enduring power of compassion, resilience, and hope.
For Judy, Holocaust education was never only about remembering the past — it was about shaping the future. She hoped that everyone who encounters these stories would leave with a deeper understanding of our shared humanity, and a renewed responsibility to stand against hatred, strengthen communities, and carry these voices forward for generations to come.
Windows to Witness is Judy Schwartz's legacy of memory transformed into action — a lifetime of relationships, service, and advocacy dedicated to ensuring that the lessons of the past continue to guide the future.