Search Results

Name

Blanche Haber

Number

OH 189

Subject

Boardinghouses

Families

Immigrants--Canada

Occupations

Interview Date

18 Dec. 1987

Quantity

1

Interviewer

Kaylee Gollom Miller

Total Running Time

Side 1 - 31 minutes Side 2 - 31 minutes

Conservation

Copied August 2003

Use Restrictions

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

Biography

Blanche Haber (née Heller) was born in a small town in Russia in 1893. She came to Toronto at age eight. Her father worked as a peddler. She married Isadore Haber in 1915. Three of her five children died from illness in their childhood. Before her marriage, Blanche worked as a seamstress. Isadore worked as a tailor, primarily for Eaton's. Like her mother, Blanche took boarders into her home at 112 Parliament Street once married.

Material Format

sound recording

Name Access

Haber, Blanche, 1893-1994

Haber, Isadore, 1887-1982

Manischewitz (family)

Geographic Access

Halifax (N.S.)

Parliament Street (Toronto, Ont.)

Original Format

Audio cassette

Copy Format

Audio cassette

Digital file

Transcript

G:\Description\Oral Histories\OH 189 Haber\OH 189 notes.pdf

Source

Oral Histories

In this clip, Blanche Haber describes taking boarders into her mother’s and her own home at 112 Parliament Street.

In this clip, Blanche Haber fondly remembers the warm relationship that developed between her family and the Manischewitz family. She explains that Joe Manischewitz boarded at her family’s home while his family built a matzah factory in Toronto.

Name

Nicole Cohen

Number

OH 422

Subject

Canada--Emigration and immigration

Jews--South Africa

South Africa--Emigration and immigration

Interview Date

18 Nov. 2015

Interviewer

Lisa Newman

Total Running Time

OH 422 part 1: 22 min.

OH 422 part 2: 18 min.

OH 422 part 3: 4 min.

OH 422 part 4: 10 min.

Biography

Nicole “Nicky” Cohen moved to Canada from Johannesburg when she was five years old. Thereafter, her family went back several times. Her last trip back as a child was at age twelve. It is from these trips that she has her earliest memories of South Africa.

In 2008, Nicky returned to South Africa with her husband and children for a cousin’s wedding. While back, they visited the apartment where Nicky’s mother had grown up. As luck would have it, they made the acquaintance of the maid taking care of the apartment and who turned out to be the daughter of Nicky’s own nanny, Ruth. Ruth met with the family several times and the two sides stayed in touch for many years.

Ruth has since passed away, but Nicky hopes to return to South Africa with her husband and children in the near future.

Material Format

moving images

Language

English

Name Access

Cohen, Nicole

Geographic Access

Cape Town (South Africa)

Johannesburg (South Africa)

Soweto (South Africa)

Thornhill (Ont.)

Toronto (Ont.)

Original Format

Digital file

Copy Format

Digital file

Transcript

Part 1:

00:30 Nicole "Nicky" Cohen outlines her family history. Her great-grandparents came from Lithuania. Her paternal grandfather was born in Cape Town and her paternal grandmother was born in Johannesburg. Her maternal grandmother was born in Namibia. He maternal father and step-father were born in Germany and immigrated to South Africa in the 1930s.

01:40 Nicole discusses the birthplaces of her family. Her parents, Nicole, and her older brother were born in Johannesburg. Her younger brother was born in Toronto.

02:08 Nicole, aged five, immigrated to Canada with her parents on 19 March 1977.

02:23 Nicole recalls few memories from living in South Africa but shares some memories she gleaned from return trips and photographs.

03:37 Nicole recalls that her family would take four-to-six-week trips to South Africa every two years from 1977-1984.

04:52 Nicole's mother was a physiotherapist and her father was a travel agent.

05:30 Nicole explains why her parents decided to emigrate from South Africa.

06:58 Nicole discusses the maid (i.e., nanny), Ruth, from her childhood.

10:55 Nicole recalls other South African family friends they maintained when they moved to Toronto.

11:34 Nicole discusses living arrangements when her family came to Toronto. Her family settled in Thornhill.

13:15 Nicole discusses her education.

14:00 Nicole discusses the challenges of adjusting to a Toronto winter.

15:42 Nicole fondly recalls return visits to South Africa with her family.

16:45 Nicole describes attending a cousin's wedding to South Africa in 2008, twenty-four years after her last visit. She discusses the trip.

21:06 Nicole discusses the high crime rate in Johannesburg. She cites some specific examples.

Part 2:

00:00 Nicole continues to discuss the high rate of crime in Johannesburg. She discusses driving through shanty towns in Cape Town and Soweto.

02:05 Nicole recalls visiting the apartment where her grandmother had lived. She discusses some of the security enforced by gates and guards. She shares an anecdote involving her family's maid, Ruth. She describes how she reconnected with Ruth and her daughter while visiting her grandmother's former apartment.

13:00 Nicole expresses a desire to return to South Africa.

13:55 Nicole discusses relatives who remain in South Africa. She notes her father's first cousin and daughter who live in Johannesburg. She discusses where other relatives are currently living.

Part 3:

00:00 Nicole discusses the close relationship between her family and their maid, Ruth. She describes how her family supported Ruth and her family.

01:20 Nicole explains how her parents and grandmother remained in contact with Ruth even after her grandmother immigrated to Canada. She recalls an anecdote involving her family arranging for Ruth to visit Toronto when she was temporarily working with a South African family in New York in the late 1980s.

02:54 Nicole discusses the difficulty her father encouraged when he initially attempted to immigrate to Canada in 1976. She cites a fictitious letter of employment for her father that enabled her family to immigrate. The letter is on file in the archives.

Part 4:

00:00 Nicole describes photographs. Some of the photographs were taken during former and recent trips to South Africa. Some photographs include images from shanty towns, Soweto, Sun City, relatives, Nicole's grandmother's apartment, etc.

Source

Oral Histories

A Big Part of my Life

Name

Dr. Joe Greenberg

Number

OH 412

Subject

Canada--Armed Forces

World War, 1939-1945

Interview Date

18 Oct. 2013

Quantity

2 DVDs

Interviewer

Dara Solomon

Total Running Time

1 hr. 51 min.

Biography

Dr. Joe Greenberg (1922-2017) was born on 30 August 1922 in Toronto. He attended Lansdowne Public School, was briefly enrolled at Central Tech and completed grade 9 at Central Commerce. In his youth, he was actively involved in the Jewish Boys' Club and attended B'nai Brith Camp. He enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War where he earned the ranking of Sergeant Major and was posted to an anti-aircraft squadron. Following the war, Joe had the opportunity to complete his high school matriculation and was accepted into Medical School at the University of Toronto. Upon graduation, he served his internship at St. Joseph's Hospital in Hamilton. He set up a general medical practice first on Grey Street and later on Bathurst Street. He married Pepi (nee Rosenstein) in 1958 and they had 4 children. Joe was a very active member of the Russisher Shul (Shaare Tzedek) on Markham and Ulster Street. Joe spent his formative years growing up on Major Street. With the help of a local historian, Gus Sinclair, Joe was instrumental in the naming of a small lane branching off Major Street "The Boys of Major Street" in memory of the residents who served during the Second World War but did not return. Another lane was named "Greenberg Lane" in Joe's honour. Dr. Joe Greenberg died on 10 April 2017.

Material Format

moving images

Name Access

Greenberg, Joseph, 1922-2017

Original Format

Digital file

Copy Format

DVD

Source

Oral Histories