[1] Ellen had herself registered at Westerbork as the 'Dutch National Figure Skating Champion', at that time such a championship did not exist, the first official one was held in 1951.

After liberation of the camp by the Soviet Union Army the two walked from Theresienstadt (near Prague) to Ellen's hometown Amsterdam (about 900 kilometres/560 miles) in just 2 weeks time to get married on non-communist soil.

Finding Canadian figure skating to be rigid and technical, she decided to blend it with ballet and modern dance, and introduced more imaginative choreography.

[9] In 1978, Burka was made Member of the Order of Canada "For elevating skating to an art form and for imaginative choreography on the ice".

[12] A documentary about Ellen Burka, Skate to Survive, was directed by her daughter Astra and premiered at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival in May 2008.

In it, she first advises parents to not push their children to become champions and then outlines progressively difficult maneuvers as well as common mistakes in completing them.