Search Results - The Canadian Jewish Heritage Network - Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives

Adele Druckman-Kinsbrunner Fonds

https://www.cjhn.ca/link/cjhn89982

Collection: Adele Druckman-Kinsbrunner Fonds

Description Level: Fonds

Material Type: textual record; graphic material; artefact

Physical Description: 0.16 linear feet of textual records, graphic material, and artefacts.

Fonds No.: 1416

Date: 1921-1968

Scope and Content: Includes nine files, consisting of biographia, professional documents, immigration records, World War II identity cards, and embroidered pillowcase, and a yellow star, as well as a biography written by her children.

Collection: Adele Druckman-Kinsbrunner Fonds

Description Level: Fonds

Material Type: textual record; graphic material; artefact

Physical Description: 0.16 linear feet of textual records, graphic material, and artefacts.

Scope and Content: Includes nine files, consisting of biographia, professional documents, immigration records, World War II identity cards, and embroidered pillowcase, and a yellow star, as well as a biography written by her children.

Date: 1921-1968

Fonds No.: 1416

Storage Location: JPL

History / Biographical: Adele Druckman was born in Dorna Candrenilor near Vatra-Dornia, Romania, in 1894. At eighteen years old, she attended a school called Jaures-Zeugnis in the town of Chernovitz. In 1938, at 44, she was married to Isaac Kinsbrunner, a businessman in Chernovitz, which was under control of the Nazis. As Jews, they had to wear a yellow star and carry an identity card. After the Germans were defeated, the Soviets took over. Most of their family was gone, and they struggled to start again. Finally, in 1949 they decided to leave and emigrate to Paris. Adele packed her monogrammed linen, and hid her diamond engagement ring as well as an unmounted diamond. Isaac's cousin had moved to Canada in 1913, so they went to the Canadian Legation in Paris for permission to immigrate. They were required to leave by January 1950, and so booked passage on the Samaria to arrive in Halifax on February 9, 1950. They were met by Isaac's cousin, Sydney Brown, ne Kinsbrunner, and his wife Jessie Cohen, who took them to Sydney's shop in Montreal at 4464 Coloniale Avenue. Unfortunately, Isaac suffered a heart attack and died, having only been in Canada for 12 days, devastating Adele. Sydney and Jessie had two sons, aged 5 and 7, who helped Adele learn English using their schoolbooks, building on the French she had learned in Paris. Sydney learned of a job as a nurse's aid at the Mount Sinai Sanitorium in Ste Agathe, a village north of Montreal, which Adele took to immediately. She was well suited to comfort the patients and enjoyed the peace of the countryside. Adele was often included in Brown family events, including Passover and Rosh Hashana, and she even undertook a trip to Brooklyn, New York, to visit Sydney's sister, Pearl. She was required to provide an explanation for her lack of a passport, but was fortunate enough to have been able to bring her birth certificate from Romania. The Brown family often visisted Ste Agathe to visit, until Adele retired at 74, after 18 years at the Sanitorium. Upon retirement, Adele returned to Montreal, where Sydney helped her find a small apartment on Cote St Luc road next to a synagogue. Sydney's sons, meanwhile, had grown up and become both doctors. They both got married in the same week, and Ida offered her engagement ring to the elder son, while the younger son was offered the unmounted diamond. (Biographical note taken from file 00001.)