- Part Of
- Benjamin Dunkelman fonds
- Arab-Israeli War series
- Level
- File
- Fonds
- 2
- Series
- 5
- File
- 11
- Material Format
- textual record
- cartographic material
- Date
- [194-?]-1986
- Physical Description
- 1 folder of textual records
- 2 maps
- Admin History/Bio
- At the beginning of the First Arab-Israeli War in 1948, Arab forces controlled the roads between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, where Jewish forces were stationed. Dunkelman assisted in finding an alternative route between the two cities, which was called the Burma Road. Operation Maccabee on 1 May 1948 was a plan to use air strikes against Arab forces in order to assist Jewish convoys travelling along the Burma Road between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
- Scope and Content
- File consists of two copies of a map of a section of the Burma Road, a report on Operation Maccabee, and a 1986 historical article about the Burma Road.
- Related Material
- See fonds 2, series 6 for more information on the Burma Road.
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Part Of
- Yeshivah Torath Chaim Theological Seminary of Canada fonds
- Level
- File
- Fonds
- 21
- File
- 38
- Material Format
- textual record
- Date
- 1938-1956
- Physical Description
- 1 folder textual records
- Scope and Content
- This file contains three Hebrew primers used at Yeshivah Torath Chaim.
- Name Access
- Indelman, Elchanan
- Bachrach, Kalman
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Part Of
- Yeshivah Torath Chaim Theological Seminary of Canada fonds
- Level
- File
- Fonds
- 21
- File
- 25
- Material Format
- textual record
- Date
- [between 1947 and 1959]
- Physical Description
- 1 folder of textual records
- Scope and Content
- This file contains a blank report card of the Yeshivah Torath Chaim at their College Street location.
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Part Of
- Scheuer family fonds
- Level
- File
- Fonds
- 47
- File
- 2
- Material Format
- textual record
- Date
- 1915-1933
- Physical Description
- 1 folder of textual records
- Scope and Content
- File consists of a copy of the Text Book of the Toronto Jewish Free School, written and published in Toronto by Edmund Scheuer in 1915. It was printed by the Traders Printing and Stationery Company. The book has been inscribed "Souvenir of Edmund Scheuer Sept. 1933" on the inside front cover.
- The book contains prayers, songs and hymns, information on Jewish holidays, and a chronology of important dates in Jewish history.
- Accession Number
- 2004-7-1
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Part Of
- Scheuer family fonds
- Level
- File
- Fonds
- 47
- File
- 3
- Material Format
- textual record
- Date
- 3 Nov. 1918
- Physical Description
- 2 folders of textual records
- Scope and Content
- File consists of a certificate of marriage and a ketubah (marriage contract) prepared for Isadore Scheuer and Jessie Bloom on the occasion of their marriage at Holy Blossom Congregation in Toronto on November 3rd, 1918. Rabbi Solomon Jacobs officiated their wedding with Edmund Scheuer and I. Simonski serving as witnesses.
- Name Access
- Holy Blossom Temple (Toronto, Ont.)
- Subjects
- Ketubah
- Marriage records
- Places
- Toronto (Ont.)
- Accession Number
- 1989-4-2
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- 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
- Henry Cassel fonds
- Level
- File
- Fonds
- 93
- File
- 5
- Material Format
- textual record
- Date
- 1921-2000, predominant 1935-1939
- Physical Description
- 1 folder of textual records
- Scope and Content
- File consists of correspondence and legal records documenting Henry Cassel's emigration from Germany and attempt to immigrate to the United States of America. Included is Henry's passport, nationality identification card, birth certificates, driving certificates, USA immigration sponsorship application, correspondence regarding his application to enter the USA, criminal background checks, a citizenship visa for Italy, and a registration card indicating Henry's place of employment. Also included are newspaper clippings that were collected by Henry regarding the Jewish community of Ferrara, Italy (a region that Henry had travelled through).
- Notes
- Photocopies of some Italian and German records with translated titles are attached to the accession record.
- Access Restriction
- Closed. Researchers must receive permission from the OJA director prior to accessing the records.
- Accession Number
- 2010-4-5
- Source
- Archival Descriptions