From The Canadian Jewish News, 2001 SS commander Otto Moll had a tooth-ache, and so visited the dentist of Auschwitz, a Jewish inmate from Dobra, Poland named Berek Jakubowicz. Settling into the chair, the pulled out his revolver and pointed it at the emaciated attendant. “Don’t try anything stupid, dentist,” he warned. “Herr Hauptscharfuhrer,” the…
Tag: wartime
Rabbi Schild’s memoir of an ‘uncertain passage’
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From Books in Canada, 2002 One evening some months ago, a crowd of about 600 people gathered in Toronto’s Adath Israel Synagogue for the launch of Rabbi Erwin Schild’s latest book, The Very Narrow Bridge: A Memoir of an Uncertain Passage. The hall in the synagogue was packed (standing room only) as the rabbi delivered…
Re-enacting the War of 1812 near Long Point
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From the Globe and Mail, July 2000 Painted a bright red, the 201-year-old John C. Backhouse Mill seems as conspicuous against its background of grass and trees as the British Redcoats must have been when engaged in combat with the Americans during the War of 1812. A historic property that was restored to pristine condition…
Personal thoughts on a bygone era, by Ben Rose
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From the Canadian Jewish News, April 28, 2000 In 1937, the vice-principal of Central High School of Commerce came into our graduating accounting class as a visitor to announce that there was a job opening. “There is no reason for any Jewish student to apply for this job because the employer doesn’t want a Jew,”…
Samuel Kernerman at 101: a man of three centuries
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For a man who has lived in three centuries, Samuel Kernerman, who will be 101 years old on January 19, 2000, has a simple request. “I just want to see my great-grandchildren grow up,” he said. He has 28 great-grandchildren. Interviewed at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre veterans wing, Kernerman, a veteran of World War…
Toronto Jews Rally for the Allies in WWI
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Toronto Jews showed their support for Britain and the Allies against the forces of “Prussianism” in the First World War. The popular author Solomon Asch (here spelled Ash) spoke at this rally in Massey Hall in 1915. This article appeared under the title “Great Jewish Host Prays For the Allies” and the subtitle “Unique Sunday…
Genealogist explores her family’s history in Stropkov
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Jews settled in Stropkov, in the Slovak Republic, around 1640. It was a little town in the backwoods of Slovakia with a Jewish atmosphere because it was between Galicia and Hungary and thus attracted Jews fleeing from those two areas. On May 24, 1942, the day before the Nazis began to deport Jews, the records…
WWII veteran remembered for his generosity
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Sam Cohen, a retired regimental sergeant major who fought with the Toronto Scottish Regiment machine gun unit in Europe in World War II, died on April 18 (2007) at 101. Cohen served in France, Belgium, Holland, Germany and Luxembourg and was decorated with many medals, ribbons and citations for his war service. He was a…
Massey Hall rally for Jews in Europe, 1915
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IT’S clear from this article from the Globe and Mail of August 9, 1915, that the situation of Jews in Europe was desperate and that Jews in Toronto were keen to ease their affliction. The rally at Massey Hall reportedly attracted some 2,000 people and representatives of more than 50 Jewish organizations. The keynote speaker was…
Wartime anti-semitic Iron Guard active in Ontario
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“Look at Judah’s claws, deeply penetrating my body! Look how my blood is running, look how the Jews are drinking it!” These are lyrics to a song. They were excerpted from a songbook found at Romanian Camp, a 50-acre compound in Flamborough, Ontario, outside Hamilton, where a group of sympathizers of the Iron Guard —…
