Part Of

Henry Cassel fonds

Level

Fonds

Fonds

93

Material Format

textual record

graphic material

Date

[ca. 1900]-2000, predominant 1929-1947

Physical Description

8 cm of textual records

3 albums (ca. 210 photographs)

2 photographs

Admin History/Bio

Heinz Kassel (1912-2009) (later changed to Henry Cassel) was a German refugee during the Second World War who was classified as an enemy alien by the British government. He spent two years in an internment camp for prisoners of war (POWs) in Quebec. He later became a naturalized Canadian citizen and enlisted in the Canadian military.

Heinz was born on October 25, 1912 in Aschaffenburg, Germany to Adolf and Olga Kassel. Adolf owned a successful banking business which he had inherited from his father. The family resided above the bank and lived a comfortable life during these early years. They moved to Frankfurt around 1920 after Adolf sold his business to buy a partnership in a bank there.

Heinz’s parents had hoped that he would one day become a corporate lawyer. In 1931, in preparation for his future career, he began studying law and economics at Frankfurt University. He enjoyed his initial university years. However, after Hitler’s rise to power in 1933, he became alarmed when his non-Jewish university friends began ignoring him and when the German government passed laws forbidding Jews from practicing law in court. Determined to leave Germany and seek out a better life elsewhere, he begged his parents to immigrate with him to the United States. They refused to go, unwilling to leave behind the life they had worked so hard to build. In accordance with his parents’ wishes, Heinz relocated to nearby Italy instead of the US in 1934. He learned Italian and eventually secured a job with an engineering firm.

Sensing that the political climate in Italy was becoming dangerous for Jewish people, Heinz applied for immigration to the US in early 1939. Eager to leave Italy, he relocated to London to await the approval of his US visa. He left just in time: Britain declared war on Germany less than a week after his arrival. His parents, in turn, managed to escape to Holland. Soon after Britain’s declaration, all immigrants from enemy countries were considered enemy aliens and suspected of being spies.

On May 12, 1940, the British military arrested Heinz and interned him with other German immigrants and POWs. He believed his detainment was only a precautionary measure and that he would be cleared within a few days. However, the British shipped him to the Isle of Man where he remained for several months. Fearing an invasion, the British shipped 3,000 of the POWs, including Kassel, to Quebec, where he was briefly interned at a POW camp set up at the Plains of Abraham. In October 1940, he was moved with 736 other refugees to an abandoned railway yard (later known as “Camp N”) in Newington, near Sherbrooke, Quebec. While there, he confronted a great deal of antisemitism from the guards.

While he was interned in Quebec, the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) interviewed him and other Jewish prisoners in order to lobby for their release. Realizing that the internees were not POWs, the Canadian government declared the camp a refugee camp in 1941. By October 1942, the CJC was successful in helping Heinz secure employment with Benjamin Pape & Company in Toronto.

Heinz met Reta Freeman in Toronto and they were married in November 1944. Reta was born and raised in Toronto. After their nuptials, they were both briefly classified as enemy aliens and had to report to the RCMP on a regular basis. Shortly thereafter, Heinz enlisted in the Royal Canadian Army and was sent to basic training in Manitoba. On January 21, 1946 he was granted landed immigrant status, and in April of that year, he became a citizen.

After the war, Heinz learned that his parents as well as other relatives had been transported to concentration camps and had not survived. He was certainly one of the few fortunate ones to leave the country, despite the circumstances of his removal. He resented being interned for so long, but did not blame the British for rounding him up with other Germans based on their initial fears regarding enemy aliens. His feelings about Canada's treatment of him during that time, however, were not as sympathetic.

The couple lived their lives in Toronto. They first resided at 2346 Yonge Street. Heinz legally changed his name to Henry Cassel. He worked as an accountant and later was a controller for the United Jewish Welfare Fund. The couple had two children: Andrew (b. 1947) and Richard (b. 1951). Reta passed away in August 1962 and Henry later remarried Esther Cassel. He passed away at the age of 96 on February 15, 2009.

Custodial History

Records were created and accumulated by Henry Cassel. His sons donated them to the OJA after his death.

Scope and Content

Fonds consists of records documenting the life of Henry Cassel, particularly his attempt to emigrate from Europe prior to the Second World War and his internment in Canada as a German prisoner of war (POW). Included is personal correspondence between Cassel and his parents; correspondence written by Cassel to potential employers and Canadian Jewish agencies; legal documents and certificates, such as Cassel's birth certificate and passport; family photo albums documenting the family and lives of Henry Cassel and his wife Reta; Cassel's autobiography; a journal and notebook written by Cassel during his internment; and, other internment records, such as government forms and poems and songs written by internees. Also included are newspaper clippings, articles, financial statements, genealogical research, and antisemitic ephemera collected by Cassel. Of particular note are newsletters that were produced during the 1990s by ex-internees who had kept in touch over the years. Records are arranged into 16 files.

Notes

Textual records in the fonds were reduced from ca. 20 cm to 8 cm. Please see accession record for further details about the culled material.

Associated material notes: for related records at other archives, please see: the UJRA case files at the National CJC Archive in Montreal and the holdings at Library and Archives Canada (such as, the Directorate of Internment Operations series in the Department of National Defense fonds R112-0-2-E)

Name Access

Cassel, Henry, 1912-2009

Subjects

Europe--Emigration and immigration

Prisoners of war

Access Restriction

Partially closed. Researchers must receive permission from the OJA director prior to accessing some of the records.

Related Material

See: Canadian Jewish Congress case files in RG 282 and accession #2005-10-1.

Creator

Cassel, Henry, 1912-2009

Accession Number

2010-4-5

Source

Archival Descriptions

Part Of

Yeshivah Torath Chaim Theological Seminary of Canada fonds

Level

Fonds

Fonds

21

Material Format

graphic material

textual record

Date

1937-[197-?]

Physical Description

37 cm of textual records

8 photographs : b&w and col. ; 21 x 26 cm or smaller

2 posters : 36 x 28 cm

Admin History/Bio

Yeshivah Torath Chaim was incorporated in December 1937 and was in operation until the mid-1980s. It was the first yeshivah in Canada. Following the Orthodox tradition, the yeshivah offered rabbinical training and ordination, after-school Jewish education for boys in elementary and high school, and operated Gan Yelodim, a day nursery and kindergarten for boys and girls. The yeshivah had a synagogue and banquet hall. Many graduates of the yeshivah went on to occupy rabbinical positions in the United States and Canada, including Rabbis Erwin Schild of Adath Israel Congregation, Gedalia Felder, Joseph Kelman, and Bernard Rosensweig.

The yeshiva's history can be traced to 1935, when Rabbi Nachman Shemen organized a small class in the attic of the Chevra Shass building on Cecil Street. Soon thereafter, lessons were relocated to a small rented home on College street. Philanthropist Moses Oelbaum, first president of the yeshivah, purchased a building for the yeshivah at 414 Markham Street in 1938. In 1942 the yeshivah took possession of a second building at 399 Markham to use as a dormitory for out of town students and refugees, and a chapel. In 1946 the yeshivah bought a new facility at 709 College Street. In 1949 they opened Gan Yelodim Hebrew Day Nursery and Kindergarten for boys and girls. In September 1959, the yeshivah moved to 475 Lawrence Avenue, where they remained until they closed. Yeshivah Torath Chaim received financial support from the United Jewish Welfare Fund from 1944 to 1960, and was affiliated with the Bureau of Jewish Education for many years.

The yeshivah had a board of directors with elected officers. Moses Oelbaum was the first president, succeeded after his death by his son J. Irving Oelbaum, who served from 1942 until 1946. J.I. Oelbaum served as president from 1942 To 1946. Louis Zuker took over as acting president, until elected to the position of president in 1948. Zuker was president until at least the mid-1970s. Rabbi Abraham Price served as dean of the yeshivah from its founding until his death in 1994.

The yeshivah was involved in several instances of refugee sponsorship. In 1942, Rabbi Price orchestrated the release of around 50 refugee students from European Yeshivas who were being interned at a camp in Quebec, and brought them to Yeshivah Torath Chaim. In 1949 the yeshivah collaborated with the Canadian Jewish Congress to bring over around 55 Holocaust survivors from a yeshivah in Prague. These students worked in Toronto while studying at Torath Chaim.

Custodial History

The custodial history for this fonds is unclear. No accession records exists for this fonds.

Scope and Content

The fonds documents the administrative, educational, and religious functions of Yeshivah Torath Chaim from 1942 to 1977. The 38 files include minutes, financial reports, correspondence, legal documents, and enrollment records. Most of the records relate to the school, but there is some documentation and financial records relating to the yeshivah synagogue, and a very little relating to Gan Yelodim kindergarten. The fonds also includes some personal correspondence of Rabbi Price.

Also included are 8 photographs, including two of the building on College Street.

Name Access

Yeshivah Torath Chaim Theological Seminary of Canada

Subjects

Yeshivas

Related Material

See accession 1995-8-1.

Creator

Yeshivah Torath Chaim Theological Seminary

Accession Number

2005-2-8

Source

Archival Descriptions