Willie Handler

Willie Handler has reinvented himself on several occasions throughout his work career. He has been a hospital administrator, a government policy manager, an insurance expert, and consultant. Following his retirement from the government, Willie began a writing career. He has published three very funny novels over the past few years. With his latest book he goes in a different direction. It is a memoir focusing on growing up as a child of Holocaust survivors.

Willie is active in Toronto’s Holocaust second generation and third generation survivor community, participating in educational programs, commemorative events, and group discussions. He is also a volunteer at the Toronto Holocaust Museum. Willie has spoken online and at in-person events on the Holocaust, antisemitism, trauma and his family’s history. He has started a support group for other descendants of Holocaust survivors in Toronto called Generations Forward.

He is currently working on a book dealing with intergenerational generational trauma in descendants of Holocaust survivors and have interviewed over 100 descendants.