John Judah Glass was born in England on 31 October 1895 to Morris and Pearl Glass. In 1907, he immigrated to Toronto—two years after his father. In 1917, he graduated from the University of Toronto. During the First World War, he served overseas in the 58th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and was awarded the Military Medal for bravery. In 1921, Glass he earned his law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School. That same year, he was called to the Ontario bar. Glass became a practicing barrister and solicitor and was a member of the Canadian Bar Association.
Glass went on to have a political career that spanned fifteen years. From 1928 to 1930, he served as trustee for the Toronto Board of Education. From 1931 to 1934, he represented the former Ward 4 as alderman in Toronto City Council. From 1934 to 1943, he represented the St. Andrew riding as Liberal MPP in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. In 1943, he left the world of active politics.
A significant portion of Glass' life was devoted to Jewish community work. For more than ten years, he was national president of the Canadian Federation of Polish Jews. He was also a member of Beth Tzedec Congregation's board of governors, a past president of the Toronto Zionist Council, a member of the Zionist Organization of Canada's national and regional executive, a founder of the Canadian Jewish Congress, a past president of Toronto B'nai Brith, and a founder and first president of the General Wingate Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion. His affiliations included the Toronto Council of Christians and Jews, the Palestine Lodge, the Jewish Home for the Aged and Baycrest Hospital, the Jewish Historical Society, United Jewish Appeal, the Jewish National Fund, and State of Israel Bonds.
In addition to his involvement in various Jewish organizations, Glass was a Mason and past-president of the Scarborough Liberal Association. He died on 22 September 1973 and was survived by his wife, Anne Ethel Glass (née Horowitz), and two sons, George and Jesse.
Scope and Content
Fonds documents the life of John Judah Glass (1895-1973), including his involvement in the military, politics, and the Jewish community. The fonds is divided into three series: Artifacts, Documents, and Photographs.
Of note are those records documenting Glass' military service in the First and Second World Wars and his progression through the ranks of public service from lawyer to trustee of the Board of Education, Toronto City Council alderman, and Liberal member of the Parliament of Ontario.
Records also document Glass' participation in the unveiling of the Vimy Ridge Memorial as representative of the Government of Ontario and his role in the purchase of a historic building on Spadina Avenue for a new Zionist headquarters. (The chain of ownership of that property since 1883 is detailed in the records.)
Name Access
Glass, John Judah, 1895-1973
Subjects
Politicians
Repro Restriction
Copyright may not be held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain permission prior to use.
Physical Condition
Some of the textual records are in poor condition and are enclosed in plastic. Panoramic photos are in fragile condition.
Item is a photograph of a Labour Zionist banquet at the New Chudleigh House at 126 Beverley St. Invitees are seated around two long banquet tables. Identified are Myer Mandel, Mrs. Myer Mandel, Leibel Bagrad; Leibel Abella; Mr. Levinsky; Chaike Lovinsky; Nachman Lovinsky; Chaim Langer; Leah Langer; Archie Bennett; Sophie Bennett; Ida Krakover; Avrum Green; Charlie Krakover; I. S. Weinrot; and Baylke White.
Subjects
Dinners and dining
Labor Zionism
Portraits, Group
Repro Restriction
Copyright may not be held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain permission prior to use.
Item is a photograph of the first annual Board of Jewish Eduacation dinner at Murray House in Torotno. The dinner took place on 7 June 1951. The speaker is Sam Posluns, to his left (partially hidden) is Joe Diamond and Rabbi Bernard Rosensweig.
The Perlmutar Bakery, located at 175 Baldwin Street, was opened in 1911 by Arrin Perlmutar who had immigrated to Canada from the Ukraine by way of London, England. He opened the bakery on the main floor of his home while his family of seven lived upstairs. The bakery had a wood-burning brick oven until the 1960s, when the city forced them to convert to electric. The bakery was best known for their onion buns and rye bread. Electric mixers were used for cakes and bread but almost every other step was done by hand. Bread baking was started by 10:00 p.m. so that there would be fresh bread to deliver in the morning. The bakery closed in 1974.
Scope and Content
Left to right: Ben Zalvin; Harry Elishevitz; Arrin Perlmutar.
Name Access
Elishevitz, Harry
Perlmutar, Arrin
Zalvin, Ben
Subjects
Challah (Bread)
Repro Restriction
Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.
Item is a photograph of the backyards and laneway behind Menachem Mendel Hyman's residence on Baldwin Street. A man seated on a horse-drawn wagon is in the laneway. The photo appears to have been taken from a second floor window.
Name Access
Hyman, Menachem Mendel
Subjects
Dwellings
Streets
Repro Restriction
Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.
35 photographs : b&w and col. ; 21 x 79 cm or smaller
2 folders of textual records
Admin History/Bio
The Jewish Brigade was a member of the Great War Association in the 1920s. After its first president was installed in the early 1930s, the Royal Canadian Legion granted a charter for a Jewish veterans' branch. The brigade was renamed the General Wingate Branch in the mid-1940s after the British army officer Major General Orde Charles Wingate, DSO. Although Major Wingate was not Jewish, he was a passionate Zionist, hence the name.
At first, the branch met at a veteran’s hall at Crawford and College Streets in Toronto, but later purchased its own house at 1610 Bathurst Street. In 1968, the branch moved to Eglinton Avenue West. It was then located at the Zionist Centre on Marlee Avenue.
The branch held an annual memorial march and service at the Mt. Sinai Cemetery, and distributed poppies to raise funds for veterans and their families, hospitals and medical research. Members also gave speeches at schools on Remembrance Day. It closed in September 2018 after more than eighty years.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of photographs and textual records that document the activities and history of the General Wingate Branch 256. Included are images of parades, memorials, picnics and executive members. There is also one 1950s branch newsletter documenting the branch's purchase of Wingate House.
Name Access
Royal Canadian Legion. General Wingate Branch 256
Subjects
Veterans
Related Material
See also Fonds 51, series 5-3, file 15 for images of Remembrance Day ceremonies held by the General Wingate Branch 256.
Creator
General Wingate Branch 256, Royal Canadian Legion (Toronto, Ont.)
1 architectural drawing : blueprint, ms. annotations ; 39 x 48 cm
Admin History/Bio
The architectural firm Kaplan & Sprachman was established by Harold S. Kaplan and Abraham Sprachman in 1922. Kaplan & Sprachman were best known for their more than 300 movie theatre projects completed from the 1920s to the 1960s, designing and renovating theatres across Canada in progressive "modern" styles and using innovative building materials. In 1937, they were awarded the bronze medal in the Sixth Biennial Toronto Exhibition for their interiors to the Eglinton Theatre (400 Eglinton Ave. W.) in Toronto, considered to be the finest example of their Art deco design work.
Over the course of their careers, they designed many synagogues for the Jewish community, such as the Anshei Minsk and Shaarei Shomayim synagogues in Toronto, Beth Israel Synagogue, Edmonton, and Beth Israel Synagogue in Vancouver. They also designed the new Mount Sinai Hospital, the Oakdale Golf & Country Club, the Jewish Home for the Aged (Baycrest), and the Jewish Community Centres of Toronto and Hamilton. Their design for the Oakdale Golf & Country Club was chosen as a Canadian entrant in the Arts Competition of the 14th Olympic Games in London, 1948.
In addition to the projects already mentioned, Kaplan & Sprachman worked on retail stores, warehouses and factories, apartment buildings, and single family residences. Their partnership continued until 1965, when the firm of Kaplan & Sprachman was dissolved as of 30 October 1965. Kaplan continued to work as an architectural consultant for several years after this date.
Scope and Content
File consists of textual records and one architectual drawing documenting the renovations to the Clothing Centre, which was located at 55 Baldwin Street. Included is one blueprint and a building alteration proposal by Kaplan & Sprachman Registered Architects, correspondence and job quotes.
The “Shuls Project” was the work of three University of Toronto architecture students, who in 1977 wrote a research paper on the eight Toronto synagogues built before World War II. Concerned at the lack of resources on these synagogues, Sidney Tenenbaum, Lynn Milstone and Sheldon Levitt foresaw the loss of communities’ recorded history as membership dwindled and elders passed on. The students conceived a project that would photograph and document every synagogue in Canada, gathering visual evidence, memorabilia, plaques and stories before they disappeared and history was lost. The students’ goal was to document synagogues’ architecture, art, and historical development through research, interviews and site visits.
The students secured a large portion of the required funding for the project from the Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Family Foundation in Montreal, funding which was matched by the Canadian Jewish Congress. This financial support enabled Levitt, Milstone and Tenenbaum to begin their study, named “Shuls… A Study of Canadian Synagogue Architecture.” They began in the summer of 1977, traveling through the Western provinces. The next summer, they visited eight Maritime cities, Montreal and other Quebec communities. Financial support in the project’s second year was again provided by the Bronfman Family Foundation, along with the Canadian government and donations in kind from businesses, including Benjamin Photo Finishers in Toronto, and Polaroid. The summer of 1979 was spent in Ontario, with an added grant from Wintario. In total, the Shuls project team traveled over 24,000 kilometres, taking thousands of photographs and conducting several hundred interviews. Photographs were taken by Tenenbaum, with Levitt and Milstone assuming primary responsibility for researching synagogues’ history and gathering historic records. Interviews were conducted by all three researchers, in both English and Yiddish.
With no handy index of every shul in Canada, the researchers located small shuls by word of mouth. They spread word of their project and solicited assistance using press releases, letters to known communities, and slideshow presentations as they traveled. They would first examine a building to get an idea of a community’s character and heritage, then conduct interviews with designers, architects, rabbis and other prominent community members.
With the research and photographs created, the team compiled three catalogues of the Western, Eastern/Quebec, and Ontario phases of the project. These catalogues have entries on each synagogue that include historical summaries highlighting the founding, growth, mergers and decline of Jewish communities, their changing needs, changing architectural expressions and trends, and the evolving uses of synagogues over the course of the twentieth century. There are also building descriptions, some with critical comments by the authors, and lists of the photographs and slides produced.
The compilation of materials and preparation of these catalogues took place at the Project’s offices at 26 Ava Road in Toronto, and continued through the summer of 1980 when the Ontario catalogue was completed. In 1985, Tenenbaum, Milstone and Levitt published a book highlighting their work, called Treasures of a People: The Synagogues of Canada.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of the records created and collected by the team of students conducting the Shuls study from 1977 to 1980. The majority of the fonds is made up of graphic material, in the form of 35mm colour slides and black-and-white Polaroid prints and (print-size) negatives. There are approximately 5110 photographs in the fonds. Fonds also consists of notes and inventory forms of buildings' architectural features. There are no interview transcripts, but the fonds does include three audio cassettes with recorded interviews and shul tours. Reference materials used in researching the history of the shuls include dedication and anniversary commemorative books and programmes, newsletters, articles and newspaper clippings. In addition the fonds contains 47 blueprints, the majority from Montreal synagogues. The fonds is arranged in the following series: 1. Quebec synagogues; 2. Ontario synagogues; 3. Western Canada synagogues; 4. Eastern Canada synagogues; 5. Reference.
Notes
Physical description note: includes 92 cm of textual records, 42 architectural drawings, 3 audio cassettes, and 1 drawing.
Physical extent note: many of the slides were culled because they were felt to be reproductions. Some of the synagogue images in the research book may therefore not be included in the fonds.
Name Access
Shuls Project
Subjects
Synagogues
Repro Restriction
Copyright is not held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain permission prior to use.
Item is a Zionist Organization of Canada charter certificate certifying that the Canadian Israel Club is an affiliated society of the Zionist Organization. The certificate is dated February 10, 1950.
Item is a bronze coin with the profile of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on one side and writing on the other side. The writing, which is found beneath a crown, reads:
E II R
CANADA.
Around the circumference of the coin are the following words: "ELIZABETH II REGINA CORONATA MCMLII.
Name Access
Elizabeth II, Queen of Great Britain, 1926-
Subjects
Queens--Great Britain
Physical Condition
Fair. There is white plaque around "E II R" and the coin is quite marked up. Red markings. The raised face of the sovereign's profile is also darkened.
The Canadian Association for Ethiopian Jews was a non-profit organization established in 1980 for the sole purpose of assisting Ethiopian Jews. To this end, CAEJ (pronounced "cage") cooperated with other bodies such as the American Association for Ethiopian Jews.
Initially, CAEJ worked with the Canadian Jewish Congress Sub Committee for Ethiopian Jewry, but the two severed ties early on. The divorce was driven by a difference in strategy: The CJC subcommittee preferred quiet diplomacy while CAEJ wanted to make noise. CAEJ was prepared to criticize Israel in the media, for example, for failing to do enough for Ethiopia's Jews—something that provoked disagreement within the Jewish community.
Apart from advocating for Ethiopia's Jews, CAEJ's main work consisted of rescue and relief. Rescue took the form of a visa program, in which Jewish students in Ethiopia were issued visas so that they could attend Canadian universities; once out of Ethiopia, they were able to immigrate to Israel. Relief took the form of an Adopt-a-Family program, which delivered monthly stipends to Ethiopians in need. According to Cathy Himelfard, past president of CAEJ, at least five hundred individuals received stipends from the organization.
In 1980, CAEJ established a Pacific chapter in Vancouver, which undertook education and rescue programs. CAEJ later opened chapters in Montreal, Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Calgary.
In 1984, CAEJ received a $15,000 Wintario grant to produce a videotape on the black Jews of Ethiopia. Susan Fish, provincial minister of citizenship and culture, awarded CAEJ the grant. CAEJ was one of sixteen that were given that year.
In 1986, the organization sent a five-person team to Ethiopia's Gondar province, the home of many of Ethiopia's Jews. The team included CAEJ's executive director, Susan Schechtman, and its assistant administrative director, Donna Finkelstein. The team visited five villages, bringing relief and conducting a fact-finding mission, the findings of which were disseminated in the press upon the team's return.
In 1987, the CAEJ held a benefit concert at the EI Mocambo, a live music venue in Toronto, to aid the Jews stranded in Ethiopia.
In 1990, 15,000 Jews moved from their villages in the northern regions of Ethiopia to Addis Ababa, under the impression that they would be able to emigrate without delay. With immigration to Israel greatly reduced, these Jews founded themselves living in terrible conditions, with reports of several hundred individuals, mostly children, dying of malnutrition and disease. In response to these developments, the CAEJ redirected its Adopt-a-Family funds to the mass relief. This involved sending doctors and medication as well as launching projects to provide clothing, food supplements, and more medical supplies.
The association's final project, conducted after Operation Solomon, involved persuading two-hundred-and-fifty Jews in Sudan to return to Addis Ababa. Once there, they were flown to Israel.
In 1992, after twelve years of operation, CAEJ shut down. Former president Jack Hope told the CJN, "We've fulfilled our mandate."
Scope and Content
The fonds consists of material documenting the Canadian Associate for Ethiopian Jews. Included are letters, artifacts, meeting minutes and agendas, newspaper clippings, reference materials, audio recordings, an office manual, and a poster.
The fonds is divided into six series: Rescue and relief letters, Administrative records, Clippings and reference materials, Artifacts, Audiovisual materials, and Posters.
Notes
Related groups of records external to the unit being described: A CAEJ advertisement that appeared in the Toronto Star can be found in the Larry Becker fonds.
Name Access
Canadian Association for Ethiopian Jews
Subjects
Associations, institutions, etc
Jews, Ethiopian
Nonprofit organizations
Access Restriction
Partially closed. Researchers must receive permission from the OJA director prior to accessing some of the records.
Repro Restriction
Copyright may not be held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain permission prior to use.
Accession consists of material documenting No Silence on Race. Included are two web pages. The first web page was created in Google Forms and is titled "No Silence on Race: An open letter from Black Jews, Non-Black Jews of colour, and our allies to Jewish organizations in Canada." The letter is dated 30 June 2020 and is signed by Sara Yacobi-Harris, Akilah Allen-Silverstein, and Daisy Moriyama. The second web page is taken from Niv's Weekly Picks and is titled "Lessons from the Kosher Section." The piece is dated 18 November 2020 and is by Yoni Belete.
Administrative History
On 30 June 2020, No Silence on Race addressed an open letter "from Black Jews, non-Black Jews of colour, and our allies to Jewish congregations, federations, foundations, organizations, nonprofits and initiatives," urging the latter to "uphold the tenets of justice and equality and to commit to the creation of a truly anti-racist, inclusive and equitable Jewish community." To that end, the authors of the letter—Sara Yacobi-Harris, Akilah Allen-Silverstein, and Daisy Moriyama—devised nine pillars "intended to support Jewish congregations, federations, foundations, organizations, nonprofits and initiatives in their transformation towards greater inclusivity and equity." Those nine pillars were: allyship; education; Indigenous education and relationship building; equity consultancy; employment and recruimtnet; equity, inclusion, anti-racism advisory; Jews of colour leadership strategy; programming/events/partnerships; amplify the voices of Jews of colour in Canada.
As of 21 January 2021, the No Silence on Race team consisted of Sara Yacobi-Harris, Akilah Allen-Silverstein, and Yoni Belete. Makom: Creative Downtown Judaism, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the Koffler Centre of the Arts, CJPAC, Hillel Ontario, Secular Synagogue, the Toronto Jewish Film Foundation, Shoresh, JQT Vancouver, Lishma, the Miles Nadal JCC, Mazon Canada, the First Narayever Congregation, and UJA Federation of Greater Toronto had issued statements in response to the open letter, extracts of which are viewable on the No Silence on Race website.
Use Conditions
Copyright may not be held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain permission prior to use.
Accession consists of material documenting the Ashkenaz Foundation. Included are memorandums of understanding between UJA Federation of Greater Toronto and Ashkenaz Foundation (2004–2010), a copy of the original letters patent that was issued on 21 July 1997, brochures and flyers, and Ashkenaz records for the years 2004–2012.
Use Conditions
Copyright may not be held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain permission prior to use.
Accession consists of material documenting Willi Holz. Included are four photo albums that belonged to the same. The first three albums consist of photographs taken in Germany between the years 1928 and 1936. The fourth album consists of photographs taken in Germany between the years 1936 and 1939 and Canada circa 1943. The photographs primarily depict individuals (family members, friends), but street scenes, airplanes, and landscapes are also depicted.
Custodial History
Records were in the possession of Camille Norton, Willi Holz's stepdaughter, prior to Camile donating them to the Ontario Jewish Archives.
Administrative History
Willi Israel Holz was born on 6 April 1912 in Breslau, Germany (today Wroclaw, Poland). From 1919–27, he attended elementary school in the same city. Starting in 1927, he attended technical high school. In 1929, he joined the Kommunistischer Jugendverband Deutschlands (Young Communist League of Germany). In 1931, he received his electrician's license. Apart from a period of unemployment in 1932, he worked from 1931–38 with several firms, acquiring experience in electrical installations. In 1933, he lost his membership in the German Metal Workers' Union (Deutscher Metallarbeiter-Verband) on racial grounds.
In 1938, Willi was put in a Nazi concentration camp. In January 1939, he was released from the concentration camp. He nevertheless had to report to the Gestapo headquarters on a monthly basis until he was able to leave Germany. This proved difficult, as Willi tried and failed to immigrate to a number of countries, including Palestine, Bolivia, and China. (In the latter case, the Republic of China granted Willi and his mother visas, but there were no ship tickets available.) In February, Willi applied to be accepted for a transit camp for Jewish emigrants that was located in Richborough, England; in July, he was accepted. He arrived in Richborough on 8 August 1939. Willi's mother was unable to come with him.
From Richborough, Willi was moved between several locations before departing from Liverpool, England, on the SS Ettrick. He arrived in Quebec, Canada, on 13 July 1940 at Internment Camp "L." (He was interned as an enemy alien.) From there, he was transferred to Internment Camp "N" in Sherbrook. In January 1941, he was provided with an affidavit for immigration to the United States, but he was unable to enter owing to an unspecified condition. In 1942, Willi's mother was deported to eastern Europe (she died in Auschwitz). In November of that same year, Willi was transferred to yet another camp.
In February 1943, Willi was released from internment for work at Stark Electrical Instrument Co. in Toronto, Ontario. In 1944, Willi started working as foreman of the machine shop for the same company. In 1946, the plant at which Willi was working ended up moving to a different location, and Willi started work on the production line. That same year, Willi appeared before a county court judge to take the oath of allegiance. He became a Canadian citizen on 4 May 1946.
Willi died on 10 October 1979. His funeral took place at Benjamin's Park Memorial Chapel.
Use Conditions
Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.
Descriptive Notes
Language: Captions are in German.
Availability of other formats: Digitized material.
Accession consists of seven scrapbooks, three of which contain newspaper clippings documenting the 1982 Lebanon War, and the remaining four contain newspaper clippings related to the trials of James Keegstra (a high school teacher convicted of promoting hatred against an identifiable group) and Ernst Zündel (a publisher and pamphleteer who was charged twice in the 1980s for publishing literature denying the Holocaust).
Use Conditions
Copyright may not be held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain permission prior to use.
File consist of a documents expressing concern over the admission of individuals identified with terrorist organizations, specifically the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Dr. H. Fenigstein was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1913. He was raised in an affluent, assimilated neighbourhood. He entered the study of medicine at the University of Warsaw in 1931. He served three years with the Military Academy for Sanitary Officers (i.e., for medical and paramedical graduates) in the Polish army. At the outbreak of the Second World War on 1 September 1939, Dr. Fenigstein worked at a military hospital. In April 1940, he was sent to the Warsaw Ghetto and started to work as the head of the pathology department at the Jewish Hospital. In 1948, Dr. Feningstein published "The History of the Jewish Hospital in Ghetto Warsaw." Some of his research was published in "The Hunger Disease," a collection of research papers that were hidden during the war. With the final liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto, Dr. Fenigstein was transported to several labour camps and was liberated by the Americans on 30 April 1945. After the war, he moved to Munich, where he worked for UNRA and the University of Munich. Dr. Feningstein immigrated to Canada in September 1948. Dr. Feningstein died in 1993.
Material Format
sound recording
Geographic Access
Canada
Munich (Germany)
Warsaw (Poland)
Original Format
Audio cassette
Copy Format
Audio cassette
Digital file
Transcript
Side 1
00:00: Dr. Fenigstein graduated from high school in 1931 in Warsaw, Poland and studied medicine at the University of Warsaw.
00:26: Dr. Fenigstein recounts some of his earliest childhood memories relating to Russian occupation of Warsaw. For example, he recalls seeing horse-drawn streetcars carrying wounded Russian soldiers, German soldiers coming to Warsaw in 1916, German soldiers confiscating valuables from his home, bad food, etc.
2:18: Dr. Fenigstein’s family lived in an assimilated part of Warsaw, not with the majority of Jews.
3:00: Dr. Fenigstein’s father was a professional electrical engineer, who graduated from university in France in 1909.
3:30: Dr. Fenigstein lists his education history.
4:48: Dr. Fenigstein recalls a military coup in Warsaw in 1926 by Józef Pilsudski.
6:07: Dr. Fenigstein notes that his personal life was not affected until 1939. In 1939, he had been practicing medicine for three years and had served three years with the Military Academy for Sanitary Officers (i.e., for medical and paramedical graduates) in the Polish army.
6:55: Dr. Fenigstein was mobilized to serve in a military hospital when Germans attacked Poland on 1 September 1939.
7:12: Dr. Fenigstein describes his experiences at the outbreak of the war.
8:00: Dr. Fenigstein was wounded on 25 September 1939. He remained hospitalized as a wounded prisoner of war until April 1940.
8:41: Following his discharge, Dr. Fenigstein started to work in the Department of Pathology at the Jewish Hospital in Warsaw. Dr. Fenigstein explains how the hospital functioned. Over time (i.e., by 1941/42 until liquidation in April 1943), the hospital was fully staffed by Jews, and all the patients were Jews under supervision of German military officers.
10:52: Dr. Fenigstein published a book in Yiddish in 1948, “The History of the Jewish Hospital in Ghetto Warsaw.” Copies are available in Yad Vashem.
11:44: Dr. Fenigstein describes the restrictions placed on activities of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto.
12:43: Dr. Fenigstein explains his role in the hospital. He was the head of the Department of Pathology until the first liquidation in the summer of 1942. The chief of the hospital was Dr. Josef Stein. Dr. Fenigstein did teaching and research. Some of his work was published in a book, “The Hunger Disease,” a collection of research papers that were hidden during the war.
14:30: Dr. Fenigstein recounts the events that led up to the first liquidation in the summer of 1942. He mentions that, although they were told that the transports were evacuation from the ghetto, there evidence that came to light to support that the transports led to liquidation.
17:03: Dr. Fenigstein explains that, despite hearing stories about liquidation at the time, he did not want to believe the reports could be true.
18:53: Dr. Fenigstein describes the evolvement of the underground clandestine Jewish resistance. The group was able to resist attempts by the Germans to liquidate the ghetto in January 1943 and on 19 April 1943.
21:05: Dr. Fenigstein gives an account of the Jewish population in Warsaw at the outbreak of the war, at the peak of the Warsaw Ghetto, and after the first two liquidations. He suggests that, of those remaining in the ghetto, several hundred put up a brave, strong resistance against the Germans in April 1943.
24:40: Dr. Fenigstein describes his work in the hospital after the second liquidation. Additionally, he worked in conjunction with the underground military force by stockpiling medical supplies in order to look after the wounded.
26:20: Dr. Fenigstein relates what happened to him after the April 1943 liquidation. He was transported first from Warsaw to Budzyn, a camp near Lublin, and later to another camp, where he worked from 30 April 1943 to 23 May 1944.
Side 2
00:43: Dr. Fenigstein continues to recount his personal history. He was transported to a camp in Radom on 25 May 1944, where he worked in a factory building small weapons. Moved by foot 29 July 1944 to a moved-in freight cars arrived 5 August 1944 in Auschwitz. The women and weak were removed from the group. The remainder got back on freight cars. Arrived in a camp in Vaihiengen 9 August 1944.
4:43: Dr. Fenigstein describes the harsh conditions of the camp in Vaihiengen.
6:28: Dr. Fenigstein was selected to be a physician on a transport on 14 October 1944. He became the chief physician at Hessental near Schwabish Hall.
8:30: Dr. Fenigstein describes an outbreak of a typhus epidemic.
10:20: Left Camp Hessental on 5 April 1945 by foot and horse-drawn wagon. Arrived on 11 Aplril 1945 in Allach, near Dachau. 25 April 1945 shipped in open freight cars. Liberated by the Americans on 30 April 1945.
13:23: Dr. Fenigstein recounts that one of the Americans approached them speaking Yiddish.
13:52: Dr. Fenigstein explains that he was able to maintain good relationships with some SS officers due to the fact that he was a physician with some military training who spoke German. As a result, he was allowed to keep a few personal belongings (e.g., a photo, pencil, paper) and have some special privileges.
16:00: Dr. Fenigstein’s first wife was killed by Nazis in Majdanek in November 1943.
16:35: Dr. Josef Stein was killed during the final liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto.
18:05: Adam Czerniakow, head of the Jewish council in the Warsaw Ghetto, committed suicide when he found out that the German were going to liquidate the Jewish population.
18:53: Dr. Fenigstein was thirty years old in 1943.
19:15: Dr. Fenigstein attributes his survival to good luck. He provides some examples.
21:50: Dr. Fenigstein recounts a few examples of how he was able to send messages to his sister amd wife with the help of a few sympathetic Poles.
25:05: Dr. Fenigstein discusses the time of liberation and immediately following liberation. The liberated inmates were transported to SS barracks initially and later sent to stay in SS garrisons in Munich. Then were placed in DP camps. Dr. Fenigstein worked as a physician for UNRA. Worked at the University of Munich. Married his second wife in Munich. Came to Canada in September 1948.
1 reference DVD (WAV file) ; 1 archival DVD (WAV file)
Interviewer
Stephanie Markowitz
Total Running Time
41:02
Notes
Earle was interviewed as part of The Memory Project which was undertaken in partnership with the Historica Dominion Institute.
Biography
Earle served in the US army from 1942 to 1945. He was in the infantry in the filed artillery and instrument and survey sections. His division went overseas to France in early 1945. Earle immigrated to Canada in 1960.
The child of Latvian immigrants to South Africa, Percy grew up in the small town of Vryheid, South Africa with his parents and two siblings. Years later, when asked what the population of Vryheid was, Percy’s mother replied, “Forty Jewish families.” Those families formed a tight-knit community that was able to support not only a synagogue and a rabbi, but a Talmud Torah school and a butcher’s shop with a kosher section.
At seventeen years old, Percy began an apprenticeship to become a pharmacist. He qualified in 1954 and worked for a year before leaving South Africa to travel the world. He never planned on visiting Canada, but found himself in Toronto for a stopover and ended up liking the city so much he decided to stay. In 1959, Percy became the first South African pharmacist registered in Ontario.
Percy met his first wife, Frances Goodman, in 1960 on a blind date and married her that same year. Together, they had two children: Beth (born in 1961) and David (born in 1963). In 1961, Percy began his thirty-four-year career with Johnson and Johnson Corporation, taking on a number of roles in the company during that time. In 1977, Frances passed away. Two years later, he married his second wife, Elsa Ruth Snider.
In addition to his professional accomplishments, Percy is the founder of the only museum devoted exclusively to the history of contraception. The museum is located at the Dittrick Medical History Centre in Cleveland, Ohio.
Material Format
moving images
Language
English
Name Access
Skuy, Percy, 1932-
Geographic Access
Canada
Europe
Israel
South Africa
United States
Original Format
Digital file
Copy Format
Digital file
Transcript
00:30 Percy was born in 1932 in Vryheid in northern Natal, South Africa.
00:41 Percy's parents emigrated from Latvia to South Africa in 1929.
00:53 Percy discusses his parents and their early lives in South Africa and the Jewish community in Vryheid.
04:10 Percy discusses his family's practice of Judaism while growing up.
05:02 Percy's father ran a small business. Later he worked with his brother-in-law to run a mill. At age fifty-nine, his father was killed in an automobile accident.
06:00 Percy discusses his mother. Percy has two siblings: an older brother, Max, and a younger sister, Rita.
07:19 Percy shares some of his childhood memories.
09:29 Percy was involved in the Habonim youth movement.
11:27 Percy reminisces about the establishment of the State of Israel.
13:23 Percy discusses his impressions of apartheid. He discusses his relationships with Black men and women.
15:15 Percy discusses his involvement with an anti-apartheid group.
17:19 Percy shares a story that illustrates his opposition to apartheid. His parents were not politically active.
19:06 Percy discusses how he became interested in pharmacy and the training for pharmacists.
21:21 Percy describes his two years of travel following graduation from pharmacy.
26:58 Percy relates how, en route to a pre-arranged job in the Arctic, he serendipitously secured a job with Glaxo as a medical sales representative on a stop-over in Toronto.
29:49 Percy describes his sales route.
30:46 Percy explains how he became the first South African registered pharmacist in Ontario.
32:31 Percy describes some of his early social/business pursuits in Canada.
34:12 Percy married his wife, Francis, originally from Sudbury. She graduated from the University of Toronto in nursing.
34:26 Following travel to Europe, Israel and South Africa, Percy and Francis decided to return to live in Canada.
35:35 Percy discusses the importance of maintaining family connection despite distance.
36:41 Percy describes the slow trickle of relatives who emigrated from South Africa. He notes that he has no close relatives remaining in South Africa and comments on the disappearance of the Jewish community in Vryheid.
38:39 Percy discusses some of the challenges he faced integrating socially into the Jewish community.
40:36 Percy explains how he became involved with working for the company Ortho.
45:15 Percy explains the factors that guided his integration into Canada.
47:08 Percy discusses his involvement in the Jewish community in Toronto.
48:30 Percy contrasts his own upbringing with how he raised his own children in Toronto.
52:00 Percy discusses his grandchildren.
52:26 Percy is the founder of a museum of the history of contraception. He explains how he developed an interest in the history of contraception and how he collected artifacts.
58:18 Percy describes his work history, his involvement in professional committee work, and his pursuits following his retirement in 1995.
1:00:11 Percy explains how he found a permanent location for the museum at the Dittrick Museum at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
1:02:50 Percy married Elsa in 1979. He discusses their range of hobbies.
1:03:38 Percy discusses the three documentaries he created. The topics included the formation of the Jewish pharmacy fraternity, the history of Jewish pharmacists in Canada, and the extracurricular involvement of Jewish pharmacists in Canada.
1:06:47 Percy addresses some of the issues faced by South African Jewish pharmacists who integrated to Canada.
1:09:20 Percy lists the languages he speaks.
1:10:00 Percy reminisces about his mother. He recalls his mother's relationship with their family servant.
1:13:14 Percy describes his training in pharmacy in South Africa.
1:15:27 Percy shares stories about their family's Black servants.
1:17:40 Percy reminisces about the opportunities that came his way since his arrival in Canada.