Accession Number

2019-7-4

Material Format

textual record

Physical Description

5 cm textual records

2 photographs : b&w, sepia toned (tiff)

Date

1959-1962, predominant 1961

Scope and Content

Accession consists of correspondence between members of the Teper family. Included are letters that Wilfred Teper sent from Tsumeb (Namibia), Lausanne, and Barcelona, to his mother Seina Teper (née Grossman) in Cape Town. Also included are letters from Seina to Wilfred’s sister Rita Burton, brother-in-law David Burton, and niece Oriane Falkenstein . Seina forwarded Wilfred’s letters to Rita and David, and requested that they forward his letters to her as well.

001: Claremont Talmudic Society tenth anniversary, Nov. 1955, Cape Town, South Africa. Photograph by Bridge Studio, Salt River. Identified in photo back row, left to right, M. Marks, H. Kagan, M. Polliack, A. Wasserman, M. Katz, S. Yutar, Y. Teper. Middle row, A. L. Resnick, M. Fletcher, B. Stein (Secretary), W. Rubin, Jack Levin, J. Levin. Front row, Menashe Ben-Dov, M. Stone, Rabbi Romm, B. Margolis (Chairman), Rev. Ch. Gordon, Rev. A. Kramer, Mr. N. Tobias.

002: Wilfred (right) standing with unidentified friend, Cape Town, South Africa [1946?].

Custodial History

Seina Teper sent all the letters she received from her son Wilfred Teper to her daughter Rita Burton (née Teper) in Johannesburg. Rita's daughter Oriane Falkenstein (née Burton), gave the letters to Wilfred in 2013.

Administrative History

Wilfred Teper (b. 1939) is the son of Edel Teper (d. 1958) and Seina (Grossman) Teper (d. 1963), both immigrants from Lithuania to South Africa. After graduating from the University of Cape Town with a degree in chemical engineering, Wilfred spent a year working at a Germanium extraction plant in Tsumeb, Namibia (then known as South West Africa and administered by the South African government) from 1961-1962. While there he bought a motor bike (which he traded for a radio and a bicycle) and on a weekend off he went to Etosha Game Reserve (now Etosha National Park). His mother sent him parcels of food, which Wilfred shared with his housemate. During this time, pieces of mail went astray.

Having saved enough money for his European travel, Wilfred left Tsumeb in January 1962, returning to Cape Town briefly before departing for Europe for three months with two long-time friends. In 1963 he married Anna Cvi of Kimberley, South Africa. They had four children and lived in Waterkloof, a suburb of Pretoria, before immigrating to Toronto in 1976, where they became members of Beth Tikvah Synagogue.

Use Conditions

Copyright is held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. Please contact the Archives to obtain permission prior to use.

Subjects

Jews--South Africa

Letters

Places

Namibia

South Africa

Source

Archival Accessions

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Part Of

Bella Diamant fonds

Level

Fonds

Fonds

117

Material Format

textual record

graphic material (electronic)

Date

1926-1947

Physical Description

3 cm of textual records

11 photographs : b&w and sepia (tiff)

Admin History/Bio

Bella Diamant (m. Hershenhorn) was the daughter of Moishe and Sarah Diamant. She was born in Ostrowiec (Ostrovietz), Poland and had five siblings: Esther, Chaim Myer, David, Baruch, and Ruth. Bella met her future husband, Samuel Hershenhorn, in Poland. He was the son of Mendel and Miriam Hershenhorn from Drildz. The family arrived in Toronto sometime during the early 1920s; Mendel arriving first followed by Miriam and Samuel. The marriage between Bella and Samuel was arranged by their families and so Bella was sent to Toronto to be with him in 1927. They married on 13 Nov. 1927. Together they had three children: Ruth (Rishie), Esti and Lee. Samuel worked for a slipper and spat manufacturer and then started his own company: The Canadian Spat and Slipper Company. He was a member of the Drildzer Sick Benefit Society. Bella was a housewife. Many of Bella's relatives perished during the Holocaust, including both her parents, her brother David who died with his wife and daughter on a forced march, and her sister Ruth who was murdered by the Nazis alongside her young daughter. Chaim Myer was sent to live with Bella and Samuel in Toronto prior to the onset of the war and therefore survived. Baruch and Esther both survived the Holocaust and eventually moved to New York City.

Scope and Content

Fonds consists of letters written to Bella Diamant Hershenhorn from relatives in Poland and Frankfurt. The pre-war letters are from Bella's father Moishe in Poland as well as Bella's siblings and cousins, usually added as additional notes and postscripts onto Moishe's letters. The post-war letters are from Bella's sister Esther and brother Baruch in Frankfurt, who both survived the Holocaust. The letters are written in Yiddish and Polish and have accompanying English translations. Also included are several scanned copies of photographs depicting Bella on the SS Estonia, en route to Canada (ca. 1927), and with various relatives in Poland prior to immigration.

Notes

REPRODUCTION RESTRICTION NOTE: Donor must be notified prior to publication of letters.

Name Access

Hershenhorn, Bella, ca. 1906-1999

Subjects

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)

Letters

Arrangement

The letters have been arranged chronologically.

Places

Ostrowiec (Sokolów Podlaski, Poland)

Toronto (Ont.)

Frankfurt am Main (Germany)

Accession Number

2016-12-44

Source

Archival Descriptions

Accession Number

2021-10-4

Material Format

textual record

Physical Description

1 letter

Date

19 Jun. 1945

Scope and Content

Accession consists of one letter to Nathan "Sonny" Isaacs from Rabbi Jacob Eisen. The letter is dated 19 June 1945. In it, Jacob congratulates Nathan on getting engaged and expresses his regret he could not have been in Toronto when Nathan was welcomed home. He also mentions that Nathan's best friend, Percy, was sad to learn that Nathan had departed Europe just as he arrived.

Administrative History

Nathan Isaacs (né Isaacovitch) was born on 20 November 1922. He enlisted on 5 August 1942. After training, Nathan worked in the kitchen at a Royal Canadian Air Force base in Aylmer, Ontario, while awaiting deployment to Europe. After being flown to Yorkshire, England, Nathan went on to fly thirty-five missions. He was twenty-one when he flew his first.

Following the war, bombers like Nathan received little in the way of recognition on account of the heavy civilian casualties caused by bombing. In 2013, Julian Fantino, minister of veterans affairs, gave out the Bomber Command bar to recognize Second World Bombers, including Nathan. That same year, thanks to a photograph that accompanied a Toronto Star article about Second World War bombers, Nathan was reunited with John Mulholland, the pilot with whom he flew his final mission.

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.

Descriptive Notes

Related groups of records in different fonds external to the unit being described: A photograph of Rabbi Jacob Eisen in uniform can be found in the Military photographs series of the William Stern fonds. A photograph of Rabbi Eisen alongside other Jewish chaplains can be found in the Harry Moscoe fonds.

Subjects

Letters

Rabbis

World War, 1939-1945

Name Access

Isaacs, Nathan, 1922-

Places

Europe

Toronto (Ont.)

Source

Archival Accessions

Accession Number

2022-2-2

Material Format

textual record

graphic material

Physical Description

8 photographs : b&w ; 9 x 14 cm or smaller

1 folder of textual records

Date

[ca. 1913]-1923

Scope and Content

Accession consists of 8 photographs and three letters addressed to Fannie Adelman from Berul Sugarman, as well as one recital program. The photographs depict:

A young child, dressed in white, standing on a large chair and holding and violin and bow, likely Abie Sugarman

An unknown child in a dark sweater with two buttons on the shoulder, standing in front of a small table holding a violin at his side.

A head-and-shoulders shot of a young man, likely Abie Sugarman, perhaps about age 8 or 9. A note in pencil on the back of this photo reads "A MERRY XMAS GREET your father and mother and sister"

A portrait of Abie Sugarman, perhaps about age 10 or 11, holding his violin as if to play, standing beside a seated gentleman who might be his instructor Broadus Farmer

A full-length portrait of Abie Sugarman holding his violin as if to play, about age 13

A portrait of Abie Sugarman standing with his violin tucked under his right arm and his bow hanging from his right hand, about age 13. There is a ring visible on his right hand

A small head-and-shoulders photo of Abie Sugarman, perhaps in his late teens or early twenties

A portrait of Fannie Adelman, taken in 1923 when she was 13 or 14, about two years after these letters were written to her.

The other items are: the programme of a recital given at The Hambourg Conservatory Recital Hall on Tuesday June 21, 1921; a partial letter from Abie Sugarman to Fannie Adelman, dated June 29, 1921; a two-page letter from Abie Sugarman to Fannie Adelman, undated; a four-page letter from Abie Sugarman to Fannie Adelman, undated; a stamped empty envelope. It is believed by the donor that at least one of these letters was in this envelope, and delivered by hand despite the stamp. All three letters were send from 240 Dundas St. West, where the Sugarman family was living at the time.

Administrative History

Berul Sugarman (Abram Berul Sugarman) was born to Jacob (Jake) and Annie (Starkman) Sugarman on 28 May 1908, in Toronto, where he lived for most but not all of his life. The Sugarman family appears to have lived briefly in Welland; the Welland directory for 1919 includes a listing for "Jake Sugarman, restaurant, west side of Main Street, house same." This would have been when Abie (he began calling himself "Berul" later in life; he went by "Abie" in his younger years) met Fannie Adelman, older daughter of Joseph Adelman and Baila (Moschiach, anglicised to Miller). Fannie was born in Montreal in 1909 and moved to Welland with her parents and younger sister Minnie sometime after 1915.

Use Conditions

Copyright is held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. Please contact the Archives to obtain permission prior to use.

Subjects

Musicians

Letters

Portraits

Name Access

Sugarman, Abram Berul, 1908-1982

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Source

Archival Accessions