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Willi Holz
- Accession Number
- 2023-2-7
- Source
- Archival Accessions
- Accession Number
- 2023-2-7
- Material Format
- textual record
- Physical Description
- 7 cm of textual records
- Date
- 1933-1982
- Scope and Content
- Accession consists of material, mostly correspondence, documenting Willi Holtz. Included are: a letter to Willi from the German Metal Worker's Union (20 November 1933); Willi's German Reich passport (1936); a postcard from Palestine (1938); a confirmation regarding application for certificate of entry into Palestine (2 January 1938); a letter to the Reich Interior Ministry from Willi (15 April 1939); a certification of good character for Willi (6 June 1939); a letter to the American consul in Canada from Leon L. Berkowitz regarding Willi Holz's internment in Camp "N" (17 February 1941); and a letter to F. C. Blair, director of the Immigration Branch of the Department of Mines and Resources, from Willi (8 January 1943).
- Custodial History
- Records were in the possession of Camille Norton, Willi Holz's stepdaughter, prior to Camile donating them to the Ontario Jewish Archives.
- Administrative History
- Willi Israel Holz was born on 6 April 1912 in Breslau, Germany (today Wroclaw, Poland). From 1919–27, he attended elementary school in the same city. Starting in 1927, he attended technical high school. In 1929, he joined the Kommunistischer Jugendverband Deutschlands (Young Communist League of Germany). In 1931, he received his electrician's license. Apart from a period of unemployment in 1932, he worked from 1931–38 with several firms, acquiring experience in electrical installations. In 1933, he lost his membership in the German Metal Workers' Union (Deutscher Metallarbeiter-Verband) on racial grounds.
- In 1938, Willi was put in a Nazi concentration camp. In January 1939, he was released from the concentration camp. He nevertheless had to report to the Gestapo headquarters on a monthly basis until he was able to leave Germany. This proved difficult, as Willi tried and failed to immigrate to a number of countries, including Palestine, Bolivia, and China. (In the latter case, the Republic of China granted Willi and his mother visas, but there were no ship tickets available.) In February, Willi applied to be accepted for a transit camp for Jewish emigrants that was located in Richborough, England; in July, he was accepted. He arrived in Richborough on 8 August 1939. Willi's mother was unable to come with him.
- From Richborough, Willi was moved between several locations before departing from Liverpool, England, on the SS Ettrick. He arrived in Quebec, Canada, on 13 July 1940 at Internment Camp "L." From there, he was transferred to Internment Camp "N" in Sherbrook. In January 1941, he was provided with an affidavit for immigration to the United States, but he was unable to enter owing to an unspecified condition. In 1942, Willi's mother was deported to eastern Europe (she died in Auschwitz). In November of that same year, Willi was transferred to yet another camp.
- In February 1943, Willi was released from internment for work at Stark Electrical Instrument Co. in Toronto, Ontario. In 1944, Willi started working as foreman of the machine shop for the same company. In 1946, the plant at which Willi was working ended up moving to a different location, and Willi started work on the production line. That same year, Willi appeared before a county court judge to take the oath of allegiance. He became a Canadian citizen on 4 May 1946.
- Willi died on 10 October 1979. His funeral took place at Benjamin's Park Memorial Chapel.
- 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
- Language: A significant portion of the material is in German.
- Subjects
- Electricians
- Holocaust survivors
- Immigrants--Canada
- Name Access
- Holz, Willi, 1912-1979
- Places
- Breslau (Germany)
- Toronto (Ont.)
- Source
- Archival Accessions