Narrow Results By
Collection
- CONGREGATION SHAAR HASHOMAYIM MUSEUM AND ARCHIVES 19
- Congregation Shaar Hashomayim Archives 1
- GUBBAY HELFER, Sharon 3
- HARRIS, Eiran 9
- Jewish Public Library Historical Collection 1
- LUTSKY, Leslie = Jewish Digest Radio Show. 16
- Sephardic Oral History Project interviews by Marie Berdugo-Cohen. 2
- Shloime Perel = Early Radio Centre-ville Jewish Digest recordings 1
- WITNESS TO HISTORY COLLECTION (MHMC-02) 24
- Young Men's-Young Women's Hebrew Association 1
Place
- Amsterdam, Netherlands, Europe 1
- Bedzin, Poland, Europe 1
- Berlin, Germany, Europe 3
- Brussels, Belgium, Europe 1
- Budapest, Hungary, Europe 1
- Gera, Germany, Europe 1
- Iasi, Romania, Europe 1
- Karlsruhe, Germany, Europe 1
- Klimontów, Poland, Europe 1
- Lodz , Poland , Europe 1
- Ludwigshafen, Germany, Europe 1
- Montreal, Quebec, Canada 20
Subject
- Jewish Public Library (Montreal, Quebec) 1
- Meknes, Azrou, Morocco, family life, Jewish cooking, Alliance Israelite, Jewish-Arab relations in Morocco, Immigration to Canada, immigrant adaptation 1
- Mikvah, Ritual bath, Chomedey, seder, role of Jewish women, family purity, Algeria, immigration from Algeria to France, Rosh Hodesh 1
- Young Men-Young Women's Hebrew Association, Montreal 1
Film, Dedication of the Jewish Public Library at 4499 avenue d'Esplanade
https://www.cjhn.ca/link/cjhn78143
- Collection
- Jewish Public Library Historical Collection
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- moving images
- Physical Description
- 1 film : b&w
- Fonds No.
- 1000A; 1; 00001; 1000_00001
- Date
- October 4, 1953
- Collection
- Jewish Public Library Historical Collection
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- moving images
- Physical Description
- 1 film : b&w
- Date
- October 4, 1953
- Fonds No.
- 1000A
- Series No.
- 1
- File No.
- 00001
- Item No.
- 1000_00001
- Storage Location
- Bay 1
- Creator
- Chanukas Habais Film
- Related Material
- Jewish Public Library Fonds
- Archival / Genealogical
- Archival Descriptions
- Repository
- Jewish Public Library Archives
Images
YouTube
Film, Dedication of the Jewish Public Library at 4499 avenue d'Esplanade
https://www.youtube.com/embed/1MLc3CVpShw
Frost, Jacob - Oral History of a Holocaust Survivor
https://www.cjhn.ca/link/cjhn67760
- Collection
- WITNESS TO HISTORY COLLECTION (MHMC-02)
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- moving images
- Physical Description
- 01:40:49
- Collection
- WITNESS TO HISTORY COLLECTION (MHMC-02)
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- moving images
- Physical Description
- 01:40:49
- Language
- English
- Notes
- Jacob Frost was born on November 15, 1909 in Gera, Germany. He worked in a carpet factory after finishing Volksschule (primary education) and graduating from a non-Jewish high school. As soon as the Nuremberg laws were passed, he and his family were well aware of the dangers of the Nazis. By 1934, they had begun the process of trying to emigrate. Jacob witnessed Kristallnacht and was rounded up and taken to Buchenwald. He calls the experience at Buchenwald a “concentration” camp rather than an “internment” camp. He witnessed many brutalities, including a well-respected man of the community “losing his marbles” and a doctor tending this man’s self-inflicted wounds. Jacob spent five weeks at Buchenwald and could return to Gera as long as he had proof of papers to emigrate. With the advice and help of several kind gentiles along the way, Jacob made the voyage to Israel. He traveled by boat via Vienna to Salina, Romania, arriving in Israel in 1940. He immigrated to Canada in 1950.
- Accession No.
- WTH-075
- Name Access
- Frost, Jacob
- Places
- Gera, Germany, Europe
- Archival / Genealogical
- Archival Descriptions
- Repository
- Montreal Holocaust Museum
Images
YouTube
Frost, Jacob - Oral History of a Holocaust Survivor
https://www.youtube.com/embed/I_Tyt93j1KcGirl Guides Group at the Shaar Hashomayim
https://www.cjhn.ca/link/cjhn44492
- Collection
- CONGREGATION SHAAR HASHOMAYIM MUSEUM AND ARCHIVES
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- moving images
- Physical Description
- Video : DV recording : English : duration: 1 minute 55.92 seconds
- Fonds No.
- SH-01; 116
- Date
- 2002
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- moving images
- Physical Description
- Video : DV recording : English : duration: 1 minute 55.92 seconds
- Date
- 2002
- Fonds No.
- SH-01
- Item No.
- 116
- Physical Condition
- Excellent
- Notes
- In this video clip Gloria Halpern, who was a member of the Girl Guides that met at the Shaar Hashomayim, discusses her experiences of being part of this group.
- Places
- Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Archival / Genealogical
- Archival Descriptions
- Repository
- Congregation Shaar Hashomayim Museum and Archives
YouTube
Girl Guides Group at the Shaar Hashomayim
https://www.youtube.com/embed/eoSkdAAC9P4
Goldberg, Peter - Oral History of a Holocaust Survivor
https://www.cjhn.ca/link/cjhn60297
- Collection
- WITNESS TO HISTORY COLLECTION (MHMC-02)
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- moving images
- Physical Description
- 00:59:33
- Collection
- WITNESS TO HISTORY COLLECTION (MHMC-02)
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- moving images
- Physical Description
- 00:59:33
- Language
- English
- Notes
- Peter Goldberg was born on May 12, 1919 in Paberze, a village approximately 20 km from Vilnius, Lithuania (Vilna, Poland), where he and his nine siblings were raised in an orthodox Jewish home. The Russian Army occupied Vilnius in 1939 until the Germans took over in 1941. Peter recalls the many restrictions placed on Jews, including the wearing of yellow stars, forced labour, and the establishment of the Jewish ghetto. Peter and his wife had to stay in the ghetto for about seven months. They remained there, often in hiding, until it was liquidated by the German Gestapo. Then, for ten months, they paid to live in a Polish house approximately 10 km from the Ghetto. Peter was taken to do forced labour as a coal digger in Bielawaka ? concentration camp. Once the camp was liquidated, he and his wife had to return to the ghetto in Vilnius for a second time until it closed in 1943. They spent about eight months in the Vilnius HKP-562 concentration camp where Peter was forced to work as a mechanic. The Germans liquidated the camp in July 1944. After liberation by the Russian Army, he and his wife returned home. He knew that most of his family had been killed immediately upon arrival in the ghetto in Vilnius (Vilna). After the war, Peter worked as a baker and a stock keeper of food for the Russian Army. When the borders opened in 1957, Peter, his wife and their daughter immigrated to Poland. They lived there until December 1958 when they decided to immigrate to Canada, as Peter’s sister was living in Montreal. Once here, Peter worked as a butcher and manager of a meat store.
- Accession No.
- WTH-050
- Name Access
- Goldberg, Peter
- Archival / Genealogical
- Archival Descriptions
- Repository
- Montreal Holocaust Museum
Images
YouTube
Goldberg, Peter - Oral History of a Holocaust Survivor
https://www.youtube.com/embed/kd0CWEt_QrcGORDON, Myer & Judy/ Toronto, co-ordinators of reunion Montefiore Hebrew Orphans
https://www.cjhn.ca/link/cjhn49119
- Collection
- LUTSKY, Leslie = Jewish Digest Radio Show.
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- sound recording
- Fonds No.
- P0161; SC 1707-46
- Date
- August 9, 2001
- Collection
- LUTSKY, Leslie = Jewish Digest Radio Show.
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- sound recording
- Date
- August 9, 2001
- Fonds No.
- P0161
- Item No.
- SC 1707-46
- Notes
- Interview by Leslie Lutsky. In a five and a half minute excerpt, Myer speaks about life as an orphan and how the alumni came to have reunions for years afterwards.
- Archival / Genealogical
- Archival Descriptions
- Repository
- Canadian Jewish Archives
YouTube
GORDON, Myer & Judy/ Toronto, co-ordinators of reunion Montefiore Hebrew Orphans
https://www.youtube.com/embed/OTB9phUAiPUGuiding Principles of the Shaar Hashomayim
https://www.cjhn.ca/link/cjhn44498
- Collection
- CONGREGATION SHAAR HASHOMAYIM MUSEUM AND ARCHIVES
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- moving images
- Physical Description
- Video : VCR tape : English : duration: 29.15 seconds
- Fonds No.
- SH-01; 223
- Date
- 2001
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- moving images
- Physical Description
- Video : VCR tape : English : duration: 29.15 seconds
- Date
- 2001
- Fonds No.
- SH-01
- Item No.
- 223
- Physical Condition
- Excellent
- Notes
- The guiding principles of the Shaar Hashomayim are read in this video. These principles include the worship of God and the teaching and study of Torah.
- Places
- Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Archival / Genealogical
- Archival Descriptions
- Repository
- Congregation Shaar Hashomayim Museum and Archives
YouTube
Guiding Principles of the Shaar Hashomayim
https://www.youtube.com/embed/BbaT_sHbXuM
Guter, Ernest - Oral History of a Holocaust Survivor
https://www.cjhn.ca/link/cjhn67763
- Collection
- WITNESS TO HISTORY COLLECTION (MHMC-02)
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- moving images
- Physical Description
- 01:09:12
- Collection
- WITNESS TO HISTORY COLLECTION (MHMC-02)
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- moving images
- Physical Description
- 01:09:12
- Language
- English
- Notes
- Ernest Guter was born on April 7, 1917 in Toru?, Poland (Thorn, Germany). A year after his birth, his parents moved to Berlin then back to their hometown, Stolp. At a young age, Ernest joined the Maccabees and travelled across Germany preparing for the Jewish Youth Aliyah. In January 1938, he went to Berlin and became a social worker apprentice. One year later, he was transferred to the German Jewish Congress as a social worker. Ernest was in Berlin during Kristallnacht. A man helped him hide with other Jewish men in a store for several days, until it was calmer. Ernest stayed hidden in Berlin until he managed to get a visa to the United Kingdom. On the day that the German army entered Czechoslovakia, Ernest left for Great Britain. While working for the Rothschild’s, Ernest attended night-school at the College of Southampton, attempting to obtain a social science diploma. In 1940, all males with German passports living in England were interned. Ernest was originally interned in London, and then spent eight weeks interned on the Isle of Man. He was offered the choice of either staying on the Isle of Man for the duration of the war or going to either Canada or Australia. He chose Canada by chance and was sent to the Sherbrooke internment camp. Hymie Grover, a knitting-mill operator got Ernest out of the internment camp. He attended McGill University and graduated in 1945. He married a Jewish Canadian woman and has three children.
- Accession No.
- WTH-132
- Name Access
- Guter, Ernest
- Archival / Genealogical
- Archival Descriptions
- Repository
- Montreal Holocaust Museum
Images
YouTube
Guter, Ernest - Oral History of a Holocaust Survivor
https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ponlj5fYRdIHARROSH, Simone
https://www.cjhn.ca/link/cjhn78036
- Collection
- Sephardic Oral History Project interviews by Marie Berdugo-Cohen.
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- sound recording
- Physical Description
- Audio cassette, 43 minutes recorded. Digital copy available.
- Fonds No.
- CJC001-S-A; SC 1063-M23-28
- Date
- August 15, 1988
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- sound recording
- Physical Description
- Audio cassette, 43 minutes recorded. Digital copy available.
- Date
- August 15, 1988
- Fonds No.
- CJC001-S-A
- Item No.
- SC 1063-M23-28
- Creator
- Marie Berdugo-Cohen
- Notes
- Sephardic Oral History Project interview by Marie Berdugo Cohen. Digitized in WAV format in March 2015. Biography: Simone Harrosh a vécu en Algérie dans une maison qui abritait 12 voisins. Ils se réunissaient tous chez ses parents pour le kiddoush du shabbat, pour célébrer la Soucca, et pour manger la dinde au couscous, à l'occasion de Rosh Hodesh. Son père, Eliahou Sakoun, policier en Algérie, arrivait à la synagogue avec son fusil. Sa mère, Simha Séban, s'occupait de la Hévra Kadisha et du Mikvé à Tlemcen. Simone a immigré en France à 11 ans, ensuite elle alla en Suisse, en Belgique, et à Londres où elle habita avec son mari, et où elle travailla au Central office of Informations. Actuellement, Simone est responsable du Mikvé Young Israel à Chomedey, qui réunit Ashkénazes et Sépharades. Elle nous décrit ici avec détails et précisions, l'éxigence de la Thora concernant Taharat Hamispaha, (la pureté familiale), qui fait partie des mitzvot à accomplir par la femme juive, tels que: les nérot, (bougies du Shabbat), hala (pain),etc. Simone nous parle des menstruations de la femme juive, des vérifications rigoureuses à faire pour savoir si elles ont pris fin, et finalement des préparatifs pour le bain rituel dans le Mikvé, qui représente dit Simone, l'espoir, la vie, une coopération avec Dieu, pour la création.
- Archival / Genealogical
- Archival Descriptions
- Repository
- Canadian Jewish Archives
YouTube
HARROSH, Simone
https://www.youtube.com/embed/UkQNumNUKVk"Hayom T'amtzenu" by Cantor Nathan Mendelson
https://www.cjhn.ca/link/cjhn44512
- Collection
- Congregation Shaar Hashomayim Archives
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- sound recording
- Physical Description
- Audio : Compact Disc : Hebrew : duration: 25 seconds
- Fonds No.
- SH-01; 820
- Date
- [ca. 1977]
- Collection
- Congregation Shaar Hashomayim Archives
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- sound recording
- Physical Description
- Audio : Compact Disc : Hebrew : duration: 25 seconds
- Date
- [ca. 1977]
- Fonds No.
- SH-01
- Item No.
- 820
- Physical Condition
- Good
- Notes
- An audio clip from "Hayom T'amtzenu", composed for the High Holidays by Cantor Nathan Mendelson. Performed by his son Cantor David Mendelson and the Congregatioin Shaar Hashomayim Choral Group.
- Places
- Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Archival / Genealogical
- Archival Descriptions
- Repository
- Congregation Shaar Hashomayim Museum and Archives
YouTube
Heller, Anita - Oral History of a Holocaust Survivor
https://www.cjhn.ca/link/cjhn67769
- Collection
- WITNESS TO HISTORY COLLECTION (MHMC-02)
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- moving images
- Physical Description
- 01:36:39
- Collection
- WITNESS TO HISTORY COLLECTION (MHMC-02)
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- moving images
- Physical Description
- 01:36:39
- Language
- English
- Notes
- Anita was born on April 26, 1926 in Karlsruhe, Germany. She came from a relatively well-off family. Her father, a German businessman, served as an officer in the German Army during WWI. He attended the 1912 Olympic Games as a member of the German Soccer Team. Her mother came from Warsaw. When she was two, the family moved to Berlin to live in a villa with servants. Anita attended a small private girl school from 1932 to 1937. She wasn't really aware of her Jewish roots before 1933. But her life changed the very day Hitler came to power. As anti-Jewish laws tightened, Anita felt a little bit more excluded every day. In 1935, her brother was sent to Scotland where he attended Kurt Hahn's school. In the summer of 1937, her parents took the decision to move to Engelberg, a small town near Luzern, Switzerland. The family left Berlin, leaving everything behind them. Anita was sent to a convent school in Luzern. Although they were able to get an American visa, the family decided to move to France in 1938. Being of Alsatian descent, they were eligible for French citizenship, which drove them to settle down in Paris where they led an undisturbed life until the war broke out. Her father was interned in a camp because he came to be viewed as an enemy alien. Eventually, in May 1940 the whole family succeeded in obtaining a Canadian visa and left Paris for Montreal. Anita didn't really enjoy her first years in Montreal as she experienced strong antisemitism on one side and on the other side was rejected by fellow Jews because of her German Citizenship. In 1947, she graduated from McGill University. She got married one year later and had two children.
- Accession No.
- WTH-291
- Name Access
- Heller, Anita
- Places
- Karlsruhe, Germany, Europe
- Archival / Genealogical
- Archival Descriptions
- Repository
- Montreal Holocaust Museum
Images
YouTube
Heller, Anita - Oral History of a Holocaust Survivor
https://www.youtube.com/embed/g46CQOiRFjYHelping the poor and elderly at Congregation Shaar Hashomayim
https://www.cjhn.ca/link/cjhn44493
- Collection
- CONGREGATION SHAAR HASHOMAYIM MUSEUM AND ARCHIVES
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- moving images
- Physical Description
- Video : VCR tape : English : duration: 46.36 seconds
- Fonds No.
- SH-01; 215
- Date
- 2001
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- moving images
- Physical Description
- Video : VCR tape : English : duration: 46.36 seconds
- Date
- 2001
- Fonds No.
- SH-01
- Item No.
- 215
- Physical Condition
- Excellent
- Notes
- This video consists of the reading of a letter of thanks from Lily Norton to the Meals on Wheels service that is run by the Sisterhood at the Shaar Hashomayim for the elderly and invalid Congregation members.
- Places
- Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Archival / Genealogical
- Archival Descriptions
- Repository
- Congregation Shaar Hashomayim Museum and Archives
YouTube
Helping the poor and elderly at Congregation Shaar Hashomayim
https://www.youtube.com/embed/4nJMui86HDUHistory of Congregation Shaar Hashomayim
https://www.cjhn.ca/link/cjhn44501
- Collection
- CONGREGATION SHAAR HASHOMAYIM MUSEUM AND ARCHIVES
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- moving images
- Physical Description
- Video : VCR tape : English : duration: 1 minute 4.49 seconds
- Fonds No.
- SH-01; 227
- Date
- 2001
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- moving images
- Physical Description
- Video : VCR tape : English : duration: 1 minute 4.49 seconds
- Date
- 2001
- Fonds No.
- SH-01
- Item No.
- 227
- Physical Condition
- Excellent
- Notes
- Interview with emeritus Rabbi Wilfred Shuchat who wrote “The Gate of Heaven: The Story of Congregation Shaar Hashomayim of Montreal, 1846-1996.” A passage from the book is read.
- Places
- Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Archival / Genealogical
- Archival Descriptions
- Repository
- Congregation Shaar Hashomayim Museum and Archives
YouTube
History of Congregation Shaar Hashomayim
https://www.youtube.com/embed/5UFnm81IqykJEDEIKIN, Leon, Montreal, speaking about his childhood in Shanghai
https://www.cjhn.ca/link/cjhn48999
- Collection
- LUTSKY, Leslie = Jewish Digest Radio Show.
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- sound recording
- Fonds No.
- P0161; SC 1625-44
- Date
- April 16, 1999
- Collection
- LUTSKY, Leslie = Jewish Digest Radio Show.
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- sound recording
- Date
- April 16, 1999
- Fonds No.
- P0161
- Item No.
- SC 1625-44
- Notes
- Oral history. Interview by Leslie Lutsky. Excerpts from this recording appear in a 2020 Canadian Jewish Archives video montage called 'Jewish Life in Shanghai'.
- Archival / Genealogical
- Archival Descriptions
- Repository
- Canadian Jewish Archives
YouTube
JEDEIKIN, Leon, Montreal, speaking about his childhood in Shanghai
https://www.youtube.com/embed/p2LC53h40_4KATTAN, Naim - Interview by Sharon Gubbay Helfer for Quebec Dialogue Pioneers project
https://www.cjhn.ca/link/cjhn60200
- Collection
- GUBBAY HELFER, Sharon
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- moving images
- Physical Description
- mini video cassette
- Fonds No.
- P0246; SVM MC 31 20
- Date
- May 18, 2009
- Collection
- GUBBAY HELFER, Sharon
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- moving images
- Physical Description
- mini video cassette
- Date
- May 18, 2009
- Fonds No.
- P0246
- Item No.
- SVM MC 31 20
- Notes
- Duration: 1:58:52. Language: French. Naim Kattan talks about his life before and after coming to Canada. In a 4 minute excerpt, he discusses his first experiences at Canadian Jewish Congress and the foundation of the Bulletin du Cercle Juif.
- Archival / Genealogical
- Archival Descriptions
- Repository
- Canadian Jewish Archives
YouTube
KATTAN, Naim - Interview by Sharon Gubbay Helfer for Quebec Dialogue Pioneers project
https://www.youtube.com/embed/5Pa9OQt2_PU
Klag, Leo - Oral History of a Holocaust Survivor
https://www.cjhn.ca/link/cjhn67777
- Collection
- WITNESS TO HISTORY COLLECTION (MHMC-02)
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- moving images
- Physical Description
- 02:19:42
- Collection
- WITNESS TO HISTORY COLLECTION (MHMC-02)
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- moving images
- Physical Description
- 02:19:42
- Language
- English
- Notes
- Leo Klag was born on August 16, 1920 in Berlin, Germany. He grew up in an assimilated family. As a teenager in Berlin, he witnessed the rise of antisemitism in Germany since 1933. He saw the boycott of Jewish stores on April 1, 1933, book burnings and demonstrations on the streets of Berlin. He attended the Olympic Games in 1936. During Kristallnacht, his father and brother were taken away and disappeared forever. Leo fled to Hamburg believing the situation was better there. As it was not the case, he went back to Berlin and hid in a Jewish sports complex until February 1939. At this point, he was so sick that he went to hospital where he met a man who helped him organize his immigration to England. Upon his arrival in England, he was interned in the Kitchener camp where he worked for the War Office in a wireless station, listening to communications between German submarines and their bases. After the capitulation of France, Leo was sent to the Isle of Man with other German refugees. He was then shipped to Canada in July 1940. He was interned in Fort Lennox, on the Ile-aux-Noix. After two years he was free to move to Montreal where he worked in the press business. After the war he moved to the USA for two years then went to Israel for one year. He has been back to Germany several times since the end of the war.
- Accession No.
- WTH-516
- Name Access
- Klag, Leo
- Places
- Berlin, Germany, Europe
- Archival / Genealogical
- Archival Descriptions
- Repository
- Montreal Holocaust Museum
Images
YouTube
Klag, Leo - Oral History of a Holocaust Survivor
https://www.youtube.com/embed/kqSb-K6Yj4M
Kotkowsky, Charles - Oral History of a Holocaust Survivor
https://www.cjhn.ca/link/cjhn67759
- Collection
- WITNESS TO HISTORY COLLECTION (MHMC-02)
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- moving images
- Physical Description
- 01:09:37
- Collection
- WITNESS TO HISTORY COLLECTION (MHMC-02)
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- moving images
- Physical Description
- 01:09:37
- Language
- English
- Notes
- Charles Kotkowsky was born in Piotrkow Trybunalski, Poland on August 8, 1920. He says that he encountered significant antisemitism growing up. After the German invasion in September 1939, he was made to wear an armband identifying him as Jewish and became afraid to go outside. A ghetto was constructed almost immediately in Piotrkow Trybunalski. Charles worked in a glass factory and was in communication with a Jewish Resistance group. In 1942, he and his brother Shlomo were taken to a nearby labour camp. In November 1944, they were again transferred, first to the HASAG Pelzery, near Cz?stochowa, Poland, and then to Buchenwald in January 1945, where Charles was tormented and humiliated by being forced to strip naked in the freezing cold. Charles was taken on a death march to Floeszberg - a subdivision of Buchenwald - in Febuary 1945. The camp was incomplete, and Charles had to help in its construction. In April the camp was evacuated and the prisoners were placed on a train headed for Czechoslovakia. Along with seven other people, including his brother, Charles jumped off the train and successfully escaped. The group was hidden by sympathetic Czechoslovaks in Plzen, Czech Republic (Czechoslovakia). They were there hiding in a barn when they were liberated by the American Army on May 8, 1945. After the war, Charles mentioned that he was invited to what he described as a “séance,” where he witnessed captured S.S. men being beaten - one of whom was killed. His brother contracted tuberculosis and needed to be moved to a hospital in another town. Unfortunately, Charles could not stay with him in Czechoslovakia for long. He soon moved to a series of DP camps in Italy, working in a doctor’s office. In 1951, he was refused entry into the United States, but was accepted into Canada, arriving there that same year.
- Accession No.
- WTH-068
- Name Access
- Kotkowsky, Charles
- Archival / Genealogical
- Archival Descriptions
- Repository
- Montreal Holocaust Museum
Images
YouTube
Kotkowsky, Charles - Oral History of a Holocaust Survivor
https://www.youtube.com/embed/8hmNmz1HpGo
Kutscher, Jean - Oral History of a Holocaust Survivor
https://www.cjhn.ca/link/cjhn67764
- Collection
- WITNESS TO HISTORY COLLECTION (MHMC-02)
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- moving images
- Physical Description
- 01:31:06
- Collection
- WITNESS TO HISTORY COLLECTION (MHMC-02)
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- moving images
- Physical Description
- 01:31:06
- Language
- French
- Notes
- Jean Kutscher was born on January 24th, 1926 in Paris to Romanian parents. His parents had fled Romania because of antisemitism. Jean and his siblings attended a laic school and grew up in a secular home. In France, Jean and his relatives didn’t experience antisemitism before 1939. However, they knew what was going on in Germany, thanks to the news shown before movies in theatres. As a French citizen (not as a Jew), Jean was shocked by Germany invading France. At that point, several anti-Jewish laws were enacted. Jean and his siblings started to understand what it was to be Jewish. Although it was compulsory, Jean and his older brother decided not to wear the yellow star. Later on, Jews were frequently rounded up from the street. First, Jean’s father was sent to Drancy in 1941, and then his brother was arrested on the street and sent to Drancy. They were both taken to Germany to a destination unknown to their relatives. Jean’s girlfriend, who was a Gentile, helped the family and provided them with food. On September 23rd, 1942, French policemen arrested Jean, one of his brothers, his sister and his mother. At the police station, adults and children were separated. Jean lied about his age, enabling him to stay with his younger brother and sister. It was the last time they saw their mother. Jean’s sister was housed by the family of a friend while Jean and his brother left Paris. They planned to go to Lyon where one of their aunts lived. They managed to cross the line of demarcation by themselves, without a guide. Unfortunately, they couldn’t stay in their aunt’s apartment, and therefore joined the “Compagnons de France.” Jean couldn’t stand it so he returned to Paris without his brother. Jean worked as a salesman in a Parisian department store. One day, policemen came to the store and told the young men working there that they had to come back the next day with some personal belongings. They were to be sent to Germany to work in exchange for the liberation of French POW’s. This mandatory service was called “Le Service du Travail Obligatoire” (STO). The police specified that if the men did not obey, the store directors and their families would be sent to Germany. Jean was taken to Germany and worked on a barge for one year. He was treated well and people trusted him. When Jean first saw the Allies in March 1945, he was hiding in a bunker near Duisburg. He was liberated by Canadians and served as an interpreter between Canadians and Germans for one month. Upon his arrival in Paris in 1945, Jean discovered the existence of concentration and death camps. As a result, Jean enrolled in the army to go to Germany but his superiors refused to send him there. Instead, Jean was sent to Morocco in April of 1945, and later to Indochina. He returned to Paris in 1947. He married his girlfriend in 1949. Jean and his wife immigrated to Montreal where they discovered a Jewish life like they had never seen before. Since his mother’s arrest, Jean has never stopped feeling traumatized and guilty.
- Accession No.
- WTH-149
- Name Access
- Kutscher, Jean
- Places
- Paris, France, Europe
- Archival / Genealogical
- Archival Descriptions
- Repository
- Montreal Holocaust Museum
Images
YouTube
Kutscher, Jean - Oral History of a Holocaust Survivor
https://www.youtube.com/embed/DBPicl1NsVALEAVITT, Dr. Joseph, re: War Orphans in 1921 - interview by Eiran Harris.
https://www.cjhn.ca/link/cjhn50072
- Collection
- HARRIS, Eiran
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- sound recording
- Physical Description
- Copied WAV, SE 016-017
- Fonds No.
- P0231; SC 1066-29
- Date
- January 16, 1989
- Collection
- HARRIS, Eiran
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- sound recording
- Physical Description
- Copied WAV, SE 016-017
- Date
- January 16, 1989
- Fonds No.
- P0231
- Item No.
- SC 1066-29
- Notes
- Oral history. This entire interview is digitally copied (SE 016-17). In a 4 minute excerpt from this 88 minute interview, Dr. Joseph Leavitt discusses the Ukrainian Jewish war orphans he helped bring over to Canada in 1921.
- Archival / Genealogical
- Archival Descriptions
- Repository
- Canadian Jewish Archives
YouTube
LEAVITT, Dr. Joseph, re: War Orphans in 1921 - interview by Eiran Harris.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/DqCV4TYS1EALEHMAN, Ruth Colton - speaking about the Ste. Sophie Jewish Community and her illustrated lecture 'From Shtetl to Parish'
https://www.cjhn.ca/link/cjhn48400
- Collection
- LUTSKY, Leslie = Jewish Digest Radio Show.
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- sound recording
- Fonds No.
- P0161; SC 1074-1-29
- Date
- June 10, 1988
- Collection
- LUTSKY, Leslie = Jewish Digest Radio Show.
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- sound recording
- Date
- June 10, 1988
- Fonds No.
- P0161
- Item No.
- SC 1074-1-29
- Notes
- Oral history. Interview by Leslie Lutsky, approximately 15 minutes long (the excerpted clip is approximately 10 minutes).
- Archival / Genealogical
- Archival Descriptions
- Repository
- Canadian Jewish Archives
YouTube
LEHMAN, Ruth Colton - speaking about the Ste. Sophie Jewish Community and her illustrated lecture 'From Shtetl to Parish'
https://www.youtube.com/embed/NKIjSiOHqQ0
Meisels, Ron - Oral History of a Holocaust Survivor
https://www.cjhn.ca/link/cjhn67766
- Collection
- WITNESS TO HISTORY COLLECTION (MHMC-02)
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- moving images
- Physical Description
- 01:53:20
- Collection
- WITNESS TO HISTORY COLLECTION (MHMC-02)
- Description Level
- Item
- Material Type
- moving images
- Physical Description
- 01:53:20
- Language
- English
- Notes
- Ron was born on June 7, 1935 in Budapest, Hungary, an only child. While his father's religious background was very orthodox, his mother's family was less religious. This led to tensions in the marriage, and they divorced in 1938. Ron's mother began a relationship with another man, Mor Makover, who later became Ron's stepfather. Ron still went to synagogue and had Sabbath dinners with his father's family every Friday night. He attended a neighbourhood Jewish elementary school, where he learnt to speak Hungarian and Hebrew. Ron remembers the day when German troops invaded Hungary and the fear that entered into his family's life from then on. Soon they were forced to wear the yellow Star of David. As Ron's father was a Polish citizen, his mother had become Polish too, and was now forced apply for residence documents. On May 1, 1944, she was arrested while waiting at the Polish embassy. She was taken into an old rabbinical college, where many Jews were held before being deported to Auschwitz and Dachau. After about two months, Raoul Wallenberg arrived at the college and, setting up a chair and table, proceeded to hand out Swedish passports to the captives. Ron's mother asked for additional passports for Ron and his father. Having been made Swedish citizens, they were now permitted to leave, and Ron's mother came home again. Soon after, in August 1944, Ron and his mother were moved into a designated "Swedish house," which was only for Swedish citizens. By this time Ron's stepfather, Mor, had been taken to a forced labour camp. Ron's mother took great risks to bring him food several times a week, passing as a Hungarian gentile by not wearing the yellow star. One time, when she went to bring him food as usual, she found out that he had been put on a train for deportation. Rushing to the train station, she found Wallenberg standing on the platform in front of the train. At her request, Wallenberg told the officials that there was a Swedish citizen on the train, and Ron's father's name was called out. Mor recognized it, and was able to pass as his mother's ex-husband. He was taken off the train and reunited with Ron and his mother. Only four inmates were to survive that particular deportation. By December 1944, all Jewish residents, irrespective of their Swedish nationalities, were ordered to line up in front of their houses and were sent to the ghetto. Ron thinks that by this time Wallenberg had lost some of his influence and was not able to stop the ghettoization of the Swedish citizens. By sneaking away from the line, Mor managed to save Ron's mother's wedding ring, which he was later able to trade in for a sack off flour. During their stay in the ghetto, there was heavy bombing of the houses and their own building was hit, completely destroying their living quarters on the top floor. A falling cross beam injured Ron and his mother. After having been treated at the hospital they were forced to move into the basement, which was extremely filthy and unhygienic. In January 1945, the Russian troops arrived and the ghetto was liberated. Mor found a cart, and took Ron and his mother back to their old apartment. A Christian woman had moved in, and Mor had to threaten that he would denounce her as a Nazi sympathizer before she finally moved out voluntarily. Mor and Ron's mother finally married in August 1945. After some years in Hungary under Communism, the family decided to leave in 1954. In order to save a man who had been selling arms to Israel from Hungary, as a cover-up, the Israeli government issued passports to Polish Jews in Hungary. Ron's family was among the lucky ones and was able to leave to Vienna and then Lim, Austria. There they waited for papers to enter the United States or Canada. Ron remembers being extensively questioned by the CIA on their lives in Communist Hungary. Finally their papers for Canada arrived and the family emigrated in November 1954.
- Accession No.
- WTH-183
- Name Access
- Meisels, Ron
- Places
- Budapest, Hungary, Europe
- Archival / Genealogical
- Archival Descriptions
- Repository
- Montreal Holocaust Museum
Images
YouTube
Meisels, Ron - Oral History of a Holocaust Survivor
https://www.youtube.com/embed/EudnIwlrhoI
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