New Search
Photo Search
Audiovisual Search
Gangolf Ernest Herman
- Accession Number
- 2020-10-4
- Source
- Archival Accessions
- Accession Number
- 2020-10-4
- Material Format
- textual record
- Physical Description
- 4 cm of textual records
- Date
- 1955-2004
- Scope and Content
- Accession consists of speeches and other textual records primarily written by Gangolf Herman in his role as president of Congregation Habonim Toronto. Included are mostly speeches, addresses, and sermons (1955-2001) that Gangolf wrote for Friday night services; tribute dinners; memorial services; the congregation’s anniversaries; and Jewish festivals such as Yom Kippur, Shavuot, Passover, and Hanukkah. Also included are correspondence (1974, 1992, 2003), one copy of Mrs. Hildegard Herman’s address to the Sisterhood of Congregation Habonim in 1955, one poem, one play script, president messages that Gangolf wrote for Congregation Habonim’s bulletins (1958-1996), and the Congregation’s bulletin for June 2004.
- Administrative History
- Gangolf Herman (1921-2004) was one of the founding members of Congregation Habonim of Toronto—a liberal reform synagogue founded in 1954 and also one of the first Holocaust refugee/survivor congregations to develop in Canada. Gangolf served as secretary, treasurer, board member, and president of the Congregation and was one of the Congregation’s most active members for more than half a century. Gangolf was born in 1921 in Berlin, Germany, to Georg and Rosa (née Wolff) Herman and was a Holocaust survivor. He had a younger sister, Ruth, who did not survive the Holocaust. Georg owned a boiler-making factory in Niederschönhausen and was trying to sell his business before leaving Berlin; however, he was taken from home with his wife Rosa, mother-in-law Therese, and daughter Ruth in 1942 to Riga. Georg died in Treblinka extermination camp [or in Kaiserwald concentration camp near the Riga suburb]. Gangolf left Germany in 1937 and went to school in Holland. Around 1939 and 1940, he left school and went to England where his family had friends. While in England, he was classified as an “enemy alien” and got shipped on HMT Dunera to Australia where he interned for three years. Gangolf had been writing letters to his family until 1942 when they were taken to Riga. Around 1944, Gangolf was brought back to London, England. Afterwards, he moved back in with friends and joined the Montefiore Circle, where he met his wife, Hildegard (Hilde) Stern. Gangolf and Hilde got married in 1946 and had two children born in London—Gavin (born in 1948) and Ruth (born in 1951). Hilde Stern (1920-1990) was born to Martin and Flora Stern in Frankfurt, Germany. Martin survived the Holocaust and escaped to London during 1937 and 1938. Martin gave up his shoemaking factory and received restitution afterwards. In 1951, Gangolf and his family bounded a ship from Southampton, England, to Halifax, Canada. After moving to Canada, Gangolf worked as a mechanical engineer, while Hilde was a homemaker. Hilde set up a nursery school inside Downsview United Church and worked at Holy Blossom Junior School. She was also active in the Sisterhood of Congregation Habonim. After the war, Gangolf received restitution from the West German government for properties owned in Berlin.
- Descriptive Notes
- Pages of Testimony (issued by Yad Vashem) that filled out by Gangolf Herman containing information about his family members as victims of the Holocaust were discovered on MyHeritage’s website and are available at S:\Collections\2020-10-4_Herman
- Subjects
- Holocaust survivors
- Speeches, addresses, etc
- Name Access
- Congregation Habonim of Toronto
- Places
- Toronto (Ont.)
- Source
- Archival Accessions