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Yolanda Garvin [textual record] – 1944.

Accession Number: 2017-9-3

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2017-9-3

Material Format: textual record

Physical Description: 1 folder of textual records

Date: 1944

Scope and Content: Accession consists of wartime correspondence between Yolanda Garvin (née Goldberger) and her sisters Maria Zilahy and Etel. In 1944, Yolanda was living in Romania, Maria and her husband Steven Zilahy were living in Hungary, and Etel and her husband were living in Yugoslavia. Yolanda's postcard addressed to Maria and Steven Zilahy was written in German and returned in June/July of 1944 with a note that the recipients had moved to Jewish Camp RTS. Etel's postcard to Yolanda is written in Hungarian. Etel's postcard is revealing of the sadness and anxiety experienced while awaiting one's fate as others were being taken away.

Custodial History: The postcards were originally created and owned by the donor's mother and aunt. Lea kept the letters after her mom passed away.

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

Descriptive Notes: Language Note: German and Hungarian

Subjects: Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Postcards; Sisters

Places: Hungary; Romania; Yugoslavia

Source: Archival Accessions

Howard Chandler [graphic material] – 1952.

Accession Number: 2019-6-2

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2019-6-2

Material Format: graphic material

Physical Description: 1 photograph : b&w ; 19 x 24 cm on mat 29 x 35 cm

Date: 1952

Scope and Content: Item consists of one photograph of a Passover seder held at the Hamilton Mountain Sanatorium, hosted for Jewish inmates by members of the Hamilton Jewish community. Seated beginning fifth from left are: Ralph Milrod, Sylvia Milrod, Howard Chandler, and Elsa Chandler.

Administrative History: Howard and Elsa Chandler, both Holocaust survivors, immigrated to Toronto through England and Sweden in 1947 and 1948 respectively. They met and married in Toronto. Elsa was recuperating from tuberculosis in Hamilton Mountain Sanatorium when this photograph was taken, shortly after the couple were married.

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

Subjects: Holocaust survivors

Name Access: Chandler, Howard, 1928-; Chandler, Elsa, 1932-

Places: Hamilton (Ont.)

Source: Archival Accessions

Nate Leipciger [textual record, graphic material] – 1963–2018.

Accession Number: 2019-11-7

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2019-11-7

Material Format: textual record; graphic material

Physical Description: 73 cm of textual records and other material

Date: 1963–2018

Scope and Content: Accession consists of material documenting Nate Leipciger. Included are records documenting Nate's involvement with the Canadian Jewish Congress, the Holoaust Remembrance Committee, and the March of the Living, as well as thank you letters from students whom Nate addressed.

Administrative History: Nate Leipciger was born in Chorzów, Poland, in 1928. He survived the Sosnowiec Ghetto and the camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Funfteichen, GrossRosen, Flossenberg, Leonberg, and Dachau. Nate and his father were liberated in May 1945, and immigrated to Canada in 1948. In Toronto Nate attended high school and eventually obtained a university degree in engineering. He later established an engineering firm with several partners. In 1982, Nate chaired the Toronto Holocaust Remembrance Committee, later becoming an executive member of the Canadian Jewish Congress National Holocaust Remembrance Committee. Nate was a member of the International Council to the Museum of Auschwitz-Birkenau for fifteen years and has been an educator on March of the Living trips to Poland and Israel for fifteen years. In 2015, The Azrieli Foundation published Nate's 280-page memoir "The Weight of Freedom" as part of their series of Holocaust memoirs by survivors in Canada. In 2016, Mr. Leipciger guided Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on a tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

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.

Subjects: Holocaust survivors

Name Access: Leipciger, Nate, 1928-

Places: Canada; Israel; Poland

Source: Archival Accessions

Nate Leipciger [textual record, graphic material, graphic material (electronic)] – [1923]-2021.

Accession Number: 2022-8-7

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2022-8-7

Material Format: textual record; graphic material; graphic material (electronic)

Physical Description: 30 cm of textual records and graphic material

Date: [1923]-2021

Scope and Content: Accession consists of photo albums: two family albums, one album titled "Auschwitz: Back to life", one album titled "Journey to Warsaw" in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and one album titled "Poland" documenting Nate's trip to Poland with his son Cary in 1990. The trip was an invitation to the Second Conference of the International Advisory Committee on the Future of Auschwitz. Nate attended as one of 28 representatives from around the world as a delegate of the Canadian Jewish Congress. Also included are textual records that document Nate Leipciger's family and life in displaced persons camps and immigration to Canada and life in Canada post-Holocaust. Also included are records related to Nate's involvement with the March of the Living and the Holocaust Centre in Toronto, as well as clippings, correspondence, speeches and writings, etc.

Administrative History: Nate Leipciger was born in Chorzów, Poland, in 1928. He survived the Sosnowiec Ghetto and the camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Funfteichen, GrossRosen, Flossenberg, Leonberg, and Dachau. Nate and his father were liberated in May 1945, and immigrated to Canada in 1948. In Toronto Nate attended Harbord Collegiate and eventually obtained a university degree in engineering. He later established an engineering firm with several partners. In 1982, Nate chaired the Toronto Holocaust Remembrance Committee, later becoming an executive member of the Canadian Jewish Congress National Holocaust Remembrance Committee. Nate was a member of the International Council to the Museum of Auschwitz-Birkenau for fifteen years and has been an educator on March of the Living trips to Poland and Israel for fifteen years. In 2015, The Azrieli Foundation published Nate's 280-page memoir "The Weight of Freedom" as part of their series of Holocaust memoirs by survivors in Canada. In 2016, Mr. Leipciger guided Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on a tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Descriptive Notes: SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE: Album of Nate's trip to Poland is in digital format only. The original album was returned to the donor at his request.

Subjects: Holocaust survivors

Name Access: Leipciger, Nate, 1928-

Source: Archival Accessions

Rose Lipszyc [textual record] – 1948-1952.

Accession Number: 2023-2-4

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2023-2-4

Material Format: textual record

Physical Description: 1 folder of textual records

Date: 1948-1952

Scope and Content: Accession consists of records documenting the immigration of Yakob and Szoszana Lipszyc. Included is a certificate issued by The Jewish Agency for Palestine on 20 April 1948 for Shoshana Handelmann's (aka Rose Lipszyc's) entry into Tel Aviv. Also included are: two immigrant identification cards issued by Immigration Canada on 8 Dec. 1952; a letter from the Canadian Department of Citizenship and Immigration dated 4 Nov. 1951, approving admission for Yakob and Szoszana Lipszyc into Canada; a letter from the Canadian Embassy in Rome on 22 July 1952, regarding a visa and entry into Rome; a document titled Italian Line regarding passage through Rome; a ticket booklet from Haifa issuing passage aboard the vessel Arisa from Haifa to Napoli on 8 Oct. 1952; and a passage ticket for a voyage from Napoli to Halifax on 28 Nov. 1952 on the vessel Saturnia.

Administrative History: Rose Lipszyc was born on 27 May 1929 in Lublin, Poland. In 1940, the Germans forced Rose and her family out of their home, so they temporarily lived near Osmolice in a small shack in the polish countryside, where they survived by working in the fields. On 14 Oct. 1942, the Nazis rounded up Rose and her family and brought them to the town square in Belzyce for deportation. Rose's father was taken to Madjanek. Sensing that they were being sent to their deaths, Rose’s mother pushed her out of the line; her mother and two brothers were then deported to concentration camps and murdered. A friend of the family, Mr. Yabloinska, a Polish farmer, provided Rose with his daughters’ identities. Rose and her 21-year-old aunt used these identities to escape to Germany posing as sisters to find work. Under the identity Helena Yabloinska, at the age of 13, Rose lived out the rest of the war hiding in plain sight, working as a Polish labourer in a German factory making ropes for ships. Rose lost approximately fifty members of her family during the Holocaust and only four survived, among them Rose and her aunt. Rose was liberated in the spring of 1945 and went to Zeilsheim (near Frankfurt) to a displaced persons camp, where she remained until the end of 1946, when she joined the Aliyah Bet Zionist movement and attempted to illegally enter British Mandate Palestine, however, the British intercepted her boat and interned her in Cyprus. In 1948, the British finally granted her entry into Israel. Along the way, she met Jack Lipszyc, another Holocaust survivor. Rose and Jack married in 1949 in Jaffa, Israel where they lived until December 1952, when they immigrated to Toronto. Rose worked at the McGregor Sock Factory. In 2021, Rose received the Order of Canada for her dedication to Holocaust education. She has three children, five granddaughters and one great-granddaughter.

Subjects: Holocaust survivors

Source: Archival Accessions

Miriam Ziegler [textual record] – 10 Oct. 1946-12 Nov. 1947.

Accession Number: 2023-3-12

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2023-3-12

Material Format: textual record

Physical Description: 1 folder of textual records

Date: 10 Oct. 1946-12 Nov. 1947

Scope and Content: Accession consists of material documenting the post-war identification of Miriam Friedman. Included is a United Nations DP Identification Card assigned to Mirjam Frydman on October 10, 1946 in Linz, Austria and a Certificate of Identity issued in Zalzburg on November 12, 1947. The certificate documents her immigration to Canada from a children's home in Strobl, Austria with transit through Germany.

Administrative History: Miriam Ziegler (née Friedman) was born in Radom, Poland, in 1935. In 1939, Miriam and her mother Rose travelled to Ostrowiec. Miriam survived in temporary hiding spots until it became too dangerous, and she joined her parents in the Ostrowiec labour camp. In August 1944, authorities deported the family to Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration and Death Camp, where they were separated. The Soviet Army liberated Miriam in January 1945. After the war, Miriam learned that her father was killed during a death march. Miriam spent time in a sanatorium and multiple children's homes and eventually reunited with her mother and aunt. In 1946, the family went to Bindermichl Displaced Persons Camp in Austria. Rose, unable to look after Miriam, sent her to the Strobl Children’s Home and in February 1948, Miriam arrived in Canada as a war orphan, settling in Toronto. In April 1958, Miriam married Holocaust survivor Roman Ziegler and had three children.

Descriptive Notes: Availability of other formats: Digitized material.

Subjects: Holocaust survivors

Source: Archival Accessions

Osman, Raymond

Passenger Names: Osman, Raymond

Date Range: June 6, 1911 to January 19, 1915

Source: Rotenberg Ledger

Passenger Names: Osman, Raymond

Page Number: 358

Date Range: June 6, 1911 to January 19, 1915

Photographer: Harvey and Adena Glasner

Source: Rotenberg Ledger

Raymond, Dominico

Passenger Names: Raymond, Dominico

Date Range: June 6, 1911 to January 19, 1915

Source: Rotenberg Ledger

Passenger Names: Raymond, Dominico

Page Number: 230

Date Range: June 6, 1911 to January 19, 1915

Photographer: Harvey and Adena Glasner

Source: Rotenberg Ledger

Ron Chapman film, Shelter collection [moving images (electronic), textual record (electronic), graphic material (electronic)] – 2017-2020.

Accession Number: 2021-10-10

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2021-10-10

Material Format: moving images (electronic); textual record (electronic); graphic material (electronic)

Physical Description: 22 videos : mp4 ; 1113 GB; Textual records (electronic) ; ca. 4.3 MB; ca. 670 photographs and pdfs (electronic)

Date: 2017-2020

Scope and Content: Accession consists of records created during the production of Ron Chapman's film, Shelter. Included are video interviews and written transcripts, and family photographs and documents collected and copied from the interviewees. Signed release forms accompany the interviews. Also included is the finished film and trailer as mp4 files.

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.

Subjects: Buildings; Holocaust survivors

Places: Toronto (Ont.)

Source: Archival Accessions

Forberg and Michalowicz families [textual record, graphic material, sound recording, object] – 1920-2013.

Accession Number: 2022-7-10

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2022-7-10

Material Format: textual record; graphic material; sound recording; object

Physical Description: ca. 9 cm of textual records; 186 photographs : b&w and col. ; 22 x 28 cm or smaller; 1 album (197 photographs) ; 34 x 25 cm; 1 audio cassette : 1/8 in.; 1 identification tag : metal ; 5 x 5 cm

Date: 1920-2013

Scope and Content: Accession consists of records documenting the Forberg and Michaels (Michalowitz) families. They include family histories, Holocaust documentation, and records pertaining to Bathurst Manor. Accession also includes 186 photographs documenting ancestors, family life, and family celebrations from the early 20th century to the early 2000s, including life in the DP camps and Bathurst Manor, and an album containing 197 photographs documenting Honey and Esther Forberg's 1967 trip to Israel. Additional records include Syma Forberg's metal Jewish identification tag, tributes to the Forberg family, Esther Forberg's school history project, Henry and Pola Michaels' funeral records, among others.

Custodial History: Records were donated by Esther Michaels, David and Syma's daughter, Harry and Pola's daughter-in-law.

Administrative History: David Berel Forberg was born in Czestochowa, Poland, on 1 February 1922. From 1939 to 1942, he lived in the Czestochowa Ghetto, where he worked as a manual labourer and painter. Syma Jurkowska was born in Opatow, Poland, on 5 August 1924. From 1939 to 1942, she lived in the Opatow Ghetto, where she made brushes in a factory and cleaned Gestapo homes and the post office. David and Syma met at the Polish labour camp Hasag-Palcery, where they worked at an ammunitions factory. After the war, they were placed in a DP camp in Lampertheim, Germany, where they got married on 11 September 1947. In July 1948, they left the German DP camp after three years and immigrated to Canada, via Quebec. They had two children, Joseph (born 19 June 1946 in Mannheim, Germany) and Honey Sarah (born 16 January 1948 in Lampertheim, Germany). They had been sponsored by Syma's uncle Cheil Slavny, who lived in Toronto. David and Syma rented rooms in their home, while David worked as an upholsterer and Syma babysat. In the early 1950s, they started making chairs and tables, which they delivered on the streetcar. David and Syma's younger children, Esther and Billy Avraham, were born in Toronto on 23 May 1949 and 26 Sep. 1952, respectively. David died on 9 October 2011. Syma died on 9 April 2021.; Harry Michaels (Hersz Michalowicz) was born in Kalisz, Poland, on 26 May 1918. Pola Lewkowicz was born in Zagorow, Poland, on 28 August 1916. By the end of the Second World War, they were living in the Soviet Union, where their first son, Julius (Jozef) was born, in the city of Gelendzhik, on 8 May 1945. After the war, they lived in Jawor, Poland, before resettling at the Steyr DP camp, in Austria, where their second son, Albert (Abram) was born, on 22 April 1947. In 1948, the family immigrated to Canada, arriving via Halifax on 1 October of that year. In Toronto, Harry worked as a furniture merchant. He died on 27 Sep. 1997. Pola died on 23 Apr. 2003.; David and Syma's daughter Esther married Harry and Pola's son Albert.

Use Conditions: Closed. Researchers must receive permission from the OJA Director prior to accessing the records.

Subjects: Holocaust survivors; Families

Source: Archival Accessions

Andre Rosenbaum [textual record, graphic material] – [ca. 1890]-2016.

Accession Number: 2023-2-8

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2023-2-8

Material Format: textual record; graphic material

Physical Description: ca. 18 cm of textual records; 207 photographs : b&w and col. ; 28 x 32 cm or semaller

Date: [ca. 1890]-2016

Scope and Content: Accession consists of records related to Clara and Sándor Rosenbaum, and their extended families. Included are documents and photographs documenting their lives in Hungary prior to the Holocaust, as well as their lives after immigrating to Tangier and, subsequently, Canada. Also includes Holocaust accounts and restitution papers, immigration documents, vital documents, correspondence, paper money, a late 19th- or early 20th-century prayer book, and a book of Shabbat songs.

Administrative History: Clara (Klára) Szabó was born in Bölcske on 28 Nov. 1920, the daughter of local lawyer Imre Szabó (born on 2 Jun. 1893 in Bölcske) and Vilma Szabó (née Stern, born in Bölcske in 1892). She had three siblings: Elizabeth (Erzsébet), born on 30 Dec. 1913; Anna, born on 10 Jan. 1915; and András, born on 5 Dec. 1916. The family lived in Paks, where she spent most of her youth. She went to elementary school in Paks, but moved to Budapest in 1935 to attend boarding school, returning to Paks in 1939. Her father committed suicide on 3 Mar. 1940. She married Sándor Rosenbaum in Paks on 14 Jan. 1941. While visiting her sister in Békéscsaba, the whole family were deported to Auschwitz: Clara, her mother, her brother, her two sisters, and her two-year-old niece. From Auschwitz, Clara and her sister Elizabeth were sent to Ravensbrück, and from there to Neustadt bei Coburg, where they worked as forced labourers at a Siemens factory. The rest of her family were killed in the gas chambers at Auschwitz. On 15 Apr. 1945, Clara and Elizabeth escaped from a forced march and headed towards the American advance. After the war, Clara and her husband reunited, and in 1946 relocated to Tangier, where Sándor's brother, Nikolas, had been living since 1940. There, they had two children: André (born on 27 Aug. 1949) and Anique (born on 1 Oct. 1950). They lived there until 1956, when the family relocated to Montreal. There, she was the president of the Dayan Chapter of Hadassah-WIZO from 1980 to 1982. She moved to Toronto in 1997 to be closer to her children. Clara died on 6 Feb. 2016 in Toronto.; Sándor (Alexander) Rosenbaum was born in Paks on 28 Jul. 1906, the son of Mihály (Michael) Rosenbaum (merchant, born on 1875 or 1876) and Regina Freund (1882-1932). He had three siblings: Hedvig (married to Oskar Barotti), Sari (married to Zoltan Barotti), and Nikolas. During the war, from May 1943 to Sep. 1943, he served at the Jewish labour service squadron No. 104/3, in Budapest, at the post office No. 70 labour service. The squadron was then moved to the Carpathians, and Sándor worked as a farm labourer in the region. He served as a yellow armband labour serviceman in the Carpathians until the end of Oct. 1944. He escaped from the labour camp with a friend, hiding in the Carpathian forests for a few weeks. After the war, Sándor changed his last name to Rostás to sound more Hungarian, later changing it back to Rosenbaum. He immigrated with his wife Clara to Tangier, and later to Montreal with their two kids, having worked most of his life as a businessman. He died in Montreal on 6 Jul. 1987 and was buried at Shaar Hashomayim Cemetery in Outremont.

Subjects: Holocaust survivors; Families

Name Access: Rosenbaum, Clara (Klára), 1920-2016; Rosenbaum, Alexander (Sándor), 1906-1987

Places: Hungary; Tangier (Morocco); Montréal (Québec); Toronto (Ont.)

Source: Archival Accessions

Hunt, Mrs. & Raymond

Passenger Names: Hunt, Mrs. & Raymond

Date Range: June 6, 1911 to January 19, 1915

Source: Rotenberg Ledger

Passenger Names: Hunt, Mrs. & Raymond

Page Number: 470

Date Range: June 6, 1911 to January 19, 1915

Photographer: Harvey and Adena Glasner

Source: Rotenberg Ledger

Gerda Frieberg [textual record] – 1967-1978.

Accession Number: 2023-3-10

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2023-3-10

Material Format: textual record

Physical Description: 1 folder of textual records

Date: 1967-1978

Scope and Content: Accession consists of a pilot's log book belonging to Gerda Frieberg, documenting flights taken between 1967 and 1978. Also included is an accompanying form from the Department of Transport regarding the issuance of Gerda's licence and log book. On the inside cover, there is a newsclipping of a poem entitled High Flight taped to the inside front cover of the book. Notations made by Gerda include: her first solo flight on 24 Oct. 1967; completion of her government approved course in flying following her flight test on 15 Feb. 1968; and her last flight on 25 April 1978, logging a grand total of 978 hours and 45 minutes in the air.; Entries include dates, aircraft type and registration, names of first pilots and second pilots or passengers, routes flown and instrument notations. Airtime totals are tallied at the bottom of each page. Of note are flights taken as part of derbies as well as flights in Israel in 1973. Aircraft included both Cherokee and Cessna single-engine aircraft.

Administrative History: Gerda Frieberg (1925-2023) was a Holocaust survivor and educator born in 1925 in Bielschowitz, Poland to the sole Jewish family in the largely German speaking village. Her father was taken in October 1939. In 1940, Gerda, her mother Elfrieda and sister Hana were deported to the Jaworzno Ghetto. In 1942, Gerda was sent to the Oberaltstadt concentration camp where her sister was already interned. Their mother joined them in 1943. Gerda worked in the machine shop of a spinning mill until she was liberated on May 9, 1945. For four years after liberation Frieberg, her sister and mother were in displaced persons camps in Landserg, near Munich. There, she became a proficient seamstress and met her husband, Louis Frieberg. After moving to Canada in 1953, Gerda devoted herself to Holocaust education and various human rights causes. She began speaking of the Holocaust in 1962, first in local schools, then across Canada. Frieberg served as chair of the Ontario region of the Canadian Jewish Congress in the early 1990s and led fundraising efforts for the Toronto Holocaust Centre. Gerda Frieberg had three children, Josey, Jack, and Sandra, eleven grandchildren and eleven great grandchildren. Gerda passed away on January 3rd, 2023, at the age of 97 in her home in Toronto.

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

Subjects: Holocaust survivors; Air pilots

Name Access: Frieberg, Gerda, 1925-2023

Places: Toronto (Ont.)

Source: Archival Accessions

Marian Domanski [textual record] – 1943-1945.

Accession Number: 2022-5-20

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2022-5-20

Material Format: textual record

Physical Description: 1 folder of textual records

Date: 1943-1945

Scope and Content: Accession consists of a birth certificate issued in November 1943 under the name of Roman-Jan Domanski, which was used by Marian Domanski to survive the Holocaust. Accession also includes an identity card with Marian's photograph and the same falsified name, issued in Radzyn on 25 Jan. 1944 (the notes section of the identity card is separated, with an illegible Polish stamp on the back, dated 23 Nov. 1945).

Custodial History: Records were donated by Marian Domanski's daughter Beata Domanska.

Administrative History: Marian Domanski (1928-2012) was born Moshe Finkielman on 20 June 1928 in Otwock, Poland, south of Warsaw. His father, Abraham Finkielman, died in 1939 as a soldier in the Polish army, and his mother, Brucha Rotenberg Finkielman, passed away in late 1941 from typhus in the Otwock Ghetto. In 1941, Marian began to regularly sneak out of the ghetto to search for food until his mother's death. In April 1942, he escaped the ghetto and posed as a Polish Catholic youth. He worked as a farm labourer in Eastern Poland for some time, until he was told that in order to get a permanent position he would have to register, which would require his birth certificate. In October 1942, in the town of Komarowka, he was caught and deported to the Treblinka extermination camp. He managed to jump off the transport, run away, and hide, eventually finding work as a farm labourer once again. In 1943, he managed to obtain a falsified birth certificate using information about a fellow herdsman, Roman-Jan Domanski, without his knowledge. He was also able to obtain identity papers, working at farms as a Polish Catholic boy until the end of the war. After the war, he traveled to the recovered territories in Western Poland, where he found work and resumed his education by attending evening school and specializing in aerial photography. He opened his own photography business in Wroclaw and was awarded the degree of Master Photographer in 1963, the same year he married his wife, Cesia. In 1968, Marian and his wife and daughter Beata left Poland for Denmark to escape the anti-Jewish campaign that was underway by the government, and in 1970, they emigrated to Canada. He attended a program in Graphic Arts at George Brown College and, after graduating, worked in several printing establishments for many years until retirement. He kept the name Marian Domanski for the remainder of his life. Marian Domanski passed away in 2012.

Subjects: Holocaust survivors; Refugees; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)

Name Access: Domanski, Marian, 1928-2012

Places: Poland; Toronto (Ont.)

Source: Archival Accessions

Gabriella Szanto [graphic material, textual record] – 1920-2018.

Accession Number: 2018-7-6

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2018-7-6

Material Format: graphic material; textual record

Physical Description: 62 photographs : b&w and col. ; 10 x 15 cm or smaller; 4 cm of textual records

Date: 1920-2018

Scope and Content: Accession contains material documenting Gabriella Szanto and her family. Included are family photographs, vital records, correspondence, and a 2018 Baycrest calendar that features a portrait and short biography of Gabriella.

Custodial History: Shirley Worth served as the executor of Gabriella Szanto's estate. Following Gabriella's death, Shirley donated the records that make up the accession to the Ontario Jewish Archives.

Administrative History: Gabriella "Gabi" Szanto (née Lazlo) was born in Budapest, Hungary on 26 January 1916. Gabriella's parents, Arnold and Ilonka Lazlo (née Diamenstein), were women's clothing manufacturers who employed twenty-five people. Their skills complemented each other: Arnold had studied design in Berlin for two years while Ilonka was a dressmaker. On 18 May 1919, Arnold and Ilonka had their second child, George.; During the Second World War, Gabi and her mother moved to the outskirts of Budapest where they passed as Catholics, rarely leaving their house. Miklos Szanto—the man Gabriella married after the war—was sent to the Mauthausen concentration camp. Gabriella's brother, George, was sent to a camp in Siberia and did not survive. It is not known where or how Gabriella's father survived the war.; After the war, Gabriella, her mother and father, and her husband Miklos reunited in Budapest. The four lived in the family apartment near the city opera house.; During the period of Communist rule, Gabriella and Miklos bribed their way out of Hungary and travelled to Vienna. From Vienna, they travelled to Australia, where they lived for five or six years, working as a short order cook and a seamstress respectively.; At some point, Gabriella and Miklos made the decision to immigrate to Canada. Their first stop—most likely in the 1950s—was Montreal. There, Gabriella worked for a high-end retailer before moving with her husband to Toronto one year later. In Toronto, Miklos worked again as a short order cook at the Noshery Restaurant on Eglinton, holding this job until he retried. Gabriella, meanwhile, worked as a seamstress until she was in her mid-80s.; In their retirement, Gabriella and Miklos spent two months each winter in Florida. Gabriella died in 2018.

Use Conditions: Partially closed. Researchers must receive permission from the OJA Director prior to accessing some of the records.

Descriptive Notes: LANGUAGE NOTE: English, Hungarian, German.

Subjects: Families; Holocaust survivors; Immigrants--Canada

Name Access: Szanto, Gabriella, 1916-2018

Places: Australia; Austria; Canada; Hungary

Source: Archival Accessions

Gangolf Ernest Herman [textual record] – 1955-2004.

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

Andy Reti [object] – 1944.

Accession Number: 2022-6-3

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2022-6-3

Material Format: object

Physical Description: 1 knapsack : canvas, leather and metal ; 48 x 48 x 5 cm

Date: 1944

Scope and Content: Accession consists of a knapsack worn by Ibolya (Ibi) Grossman when she, her mother, and her son, Andy Reti, were deported to the Budapest ghetto. Ibi used the knapsack to carry some food and provisions for her baby son. Andy Reti later used it in 1956 and for camping trips in Canada - all special journeys for him.

Custodial History: Object was donated by Andy Reti, Ibi's son.

Administrative History: Ibolya (Ibi) Grossman was born on 11 December 1916 in Pécs, Hungary, to Ignacz Szalai and Laura Fisher. Around 1931, she joined the Zionist movement in Hungary; there, she met Zoltan (Zolti) Rechnitzer, who she would later marry. In 1933, she moved to Budapest, where her older sister lived; for several months, she worked at a thread factory. The Rechnitzer family moved to Budapest in 1936, and she married Zolti in September 1939. She became pregnant in 1941, and a son Andras (Andy) was born in July 1942. In November 1942, Zolti reported for duty as a labourer in the Hungarian army, as was required for all Jewish males between the ages of 18 and 50. In May 1944, Zolti was taken to a labour camp; Ibi never saw him again. In the meantime, she was confined to a Jewish ghetto in Budapest. In July 1944, her parents and two half-sisters were taken to Auschwitz. In 1945, Grossman was liberated from the ghetto by the invading Russian army. In 1949, she attempted to escape from Hungary. She was betrayed, arrested and jailed. Her second attempt succeeded, and she came to Canada with her son in 1956, first to Winnipeg, and then to Toronto. In 1958, she married Emil Grossman. She passed away on 11 March 2005 in Toronto.

Subjects: Holocaust survivors; Jewish ghettos; Refugees

Name Access: Grossman, Ibolya (Ibi), 1916-2005; Reti, Andy, 1942-

Places: Budapest (Hungary)

Source: Archival Accessions

Willi Holz [textual record] – 1933-1982.

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

Willi Holz [graphic material] – 1928-1943.

Accession Number: 2023-6-3

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2023-6-3

Material Format: graphic material

Physical Description: 4 photo albums

Date: 1928-1943

Scope and Content: Accession consists of material documenting Willi Holz. Included are four photo albums that belonged to the same. The first three albums consist of photographs taken in Germany between the years 1928 and 1936. The fourth album consists of photographs taken in Germany between the years 1936 and 1939 and Canada circa 1943. The photographs primarily depict individuals (family members, friends), but street scenes, airplanes, and landscapes are also depicted.

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." (He was interned as an enemy alien.) 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 is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

Descriptive Notes: Language: Captions are in German.; Availability of other formats: Digitized material.

Subjects: Electricians; Holocaust survivors; Immigrants--Canada

Name Access: Holz, Willi, 1912-1979

Places: Canada; Germany

Source: Archival Accessions

Leslie Mezei [textual record, object] – 1947-1948.

Accession Number: 2022-5-15

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2022-5-15

Material Format: textual record; object

Physical Description: 1 folder of textual records; 1 armband : white fabric ; 18 x 5 cm

Date: 1947-1948

Scope and Content: Accession consists of Leslie Mezei's certificate of identity in lieu of passport, issued on 2 Dec. 1947 by the Office of the Military Governor, US Zone of Germany. It contains Leslie's picture and signature, as well as the 13 Jan. 1948 Canadian stamp of arrival in Halifax. Also included is the armband worn by Leslie on his way to Canada, which says, "Sponsored by the Canadian Jewish Congress. Chief Welfare Officer Ethel Ostry-Genkind."

Custodial History: Records were donated by Leslie Mezei himself.

Administrative History: Leslie (Laszlo) Mezei was born in Budapest, Hungary, on 9 July 1931. After the war, he and his siblings stayed at the Leipheim DP camp, in Germany, and at a children's camp in Prien am Chiemsee, in Southern Germany. After going on the Exodus 1947 illegal immigration to then Mandatory Palestine, they were sent back to Prien, where a Canadian social worker signed them up for immigration. They arrived in January 1948 on board the USS General SD Sturgis, an American troop carrier that had been used for carrying refugees. They landed at Pier 21, in Halifax. Then, they took a train to Montreal, and, after spending some time at the YMHA, Leslie was taken in by the Winkler family, with whom he stayed with for five years. After completing his basic education, he enrolled at McGill University for a BSc in mathematic and physics followed by an MA in meteorology in Toronto, where he got married in August 1953 to his fiancée, Annie Wasserman, a Holocaust survivor from Poland. Leslie became a computer programmer in 1954 and a systems analyst in 1958. His wife, Annie, with whom he had two children, Frances and Michael, developed a brain tumor and died in January 1977. After Annie's death, Leslie started to work with the interfaith movement. He later married Kathy, a seventh-generation Canadian of English, Irish, and Scottish background. Between them, they have five children, ten grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. In 2021, Leslie was awarded a certificate of recognition signed by the mayor of Toronto, the president of the Interfaith Council, and the head of the Toronto Sufi Order International. In 2019, the Azrieli Foundation published the Holocaust story of his family in a book titled "A Tapestry of Survival."

Descriptive Notes: Physical Description note: Armband has been measured in flattened position.

Subjects: Holocaust survivors; Refugee children; Immigrants--Canada

Name Access: Mezei, Leslie (Laszlo), 1931-

Places: Germany; Halifax (N.S.); Montréal (Québec); Toronto (Ont.)

Source: Archival Accessions

Lilian Rosenthal [graphic material] – 1949-2007.

Accession Number: 2018-7-22

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2018-7-22

Material Format: graphic material

Physical Description: 47 photographs : b&w and col. ; 19 x 14 cm or smaller

Date: 1949-2007

Scope and Content: Accession consists of forty-seven photographs documenting Lilian Rosenthal's family.; Identified in the photographs are: Emy Berman (née Rosenthal), Ella Fleischmann (née Schwarcz), Esther Fleischmann, Jack Fleischmann, Ivan Fleischmann, Joanne Howe (née Fleischmann), Livia Bitton Jackson, Leah Kedar, Allan Leibler, Mary Leibler (née Schwarcz) Bram Morrison, Ruth Raphael, Amir Rosenthal, Annette Rosenthal, Arthur Rosenthal, Eddie Rosenthal, Herschel Rosenthal, Jack Rosenthal, Keren Rosenthal, Leslie Rosenthal, Lilian Rosenthal, Miriam Rosenthal (née Schwarcz), Murray Rosenthal, Nili Rosenthal, Ron Rosenthal, Shira Rosenthal, Valerie Rosenthal, William Rosenthal, Carmelle Rutman, Serena Rutman, Tami Rutman (née Rosenthal), Yasmin Rutman, Alexander Schwarcz, Manci Schwarcz, Susan Schwarcz, Miriam Sharon (née Stern), Mr. Shoychet, Mrs. Shoychet, Rochelle Treister (née Fleischmann), and Ugo Vero.

Administrative History: Lilian Rosenthal is the daughter of Holocaust survivors Miriam Rosenthal (née Schwarcz) and Rabbi William Rosenthal. She grew up in Sudbury, Ontario with her siblings, Leslie and Murray.; Lilian's parents were born in eastern Europe and came to Canada in 1947. They lived in Timmins for a year before moving to Sudbury, where William ("Bela") served as a rabbi, cantor, and teacher for sixteen years.; In 1965, the family moved to Toronto and Miriam and William opened a Judaica store at the corner Bathurst Street and Caribou Road. Together, Lilian's parents ran the store for more than forty years until retiring in 2007. William died on 11 April 2008; Miriam died on 10 February 2018.

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: Availabilityusc of other formats: Digital access copies (jpg) have been created.; Finding aids: A short description including dates and identification is available for each photograph.; Associated material: The USC Shoah Foundation produced an oral history with Miriam Rosenthal, which has been digitized.

Subjects: Families; Family-owned business enterprises; Holocaust survivors

Name Access: Rosenthal (family); Rosenthal, Lilian; Rosenthal, Miriam, 1922-2018; Rosenthal, William, 1911-2008

Places: Bathurst Street (Toronto, Ont.); Caribou Road (Toronto, Ont.); Sudbury (Ont.); Timmins (Ont.); Toronto Islands (Ont.)

Source: Archival Accessions

Rally for Truth, Light and Freedom video [moving images] – 2006.

Accession Number: 2010-1-5

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2010-1-5

Material Format: moving images

Physical Description: 1 DVD ( ca. 96 min.)

Date: 2006

Scope and Content: Accession consists of one DVD recording of the Rally for Truth, Light and Freedom. The DVD covers the entire presentation, including speakers Linda Frum Sokolowski, Father Raymond De Souza, Peter Van Loan, Michael Bryant, Martin Maxwell, Max Eisen, and William McBurney; keynote speaker Professer Alan Dershowitz; and archival footage of a concentration camp liberation that was screened at the rally.

Administrative History: The Rally for Truth, Light and Freedom: Iran Exposed was held at Beth Tzedec Congregation on Thursday December 21, 2006 to express opposition to Iran's Holocaust denial conference. It was sponsored by a coalition of more than 120 Jewish and non-Jewish organizations, including the Archdiocese of Toronto's Office of Ecumenical and Interfaith Affairs, the National Congress of Italian-Canadians, the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews, and the Hindu Conference of Canada. Organizational support was provided by UJA Federation of Greater Toronto; Canadian Jewish Congress, Ontario Region; and the Holocaust Centre of Toronto. Mark Anshan of UJA coordinated the event.

Subjects: Holocaust denial; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)

Source: Archival Accessions

Holocaust monument dedication, Litvische-Latvische section of Bathurst Lawn Cemetery, Toronto [graphic material] – [ca. 1965].

Accession Number: 1992-7-2

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 1992-7-2

Material Format: graphic material

Physical Description: 4 photographs : col. (slides) ; 35 mm

Date: [ca. 1965]

Scope and Content: This accession consists of 4 colour slides of the dedication of a Holocaust monument in Litvische-Latvische section of Bathurst Lawn Cemetery, Toronto, with Cantor N. Stolnitz.

Subjects: Holocaust memorials; Cemeteries

Source: Archival Accessions

Sam Lipshitz [graphic material, textual record] – 1945-1946.

Accession Number: 1995-1-3

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 1995-1-3

Material Format: graphic material; textual record

Physical Description: 1 album; 16 posters

Date: 1945-1946

Scope and Content: Accession includes a scrapbook entitled "Polish Jews in the time of the German occupation, 1939-1945", presented to Sam Lipshitz and H.M. Caiserman by the Central Committee of Polish Jews during their tour of Poland in 1946 as delegates for the Canadian Jewish Congress and United Radomer Relief.; The accession also includes 16 posters created for an exhibition to document their trip and the Holocaust in Poland.

Subjects: Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)

Source: Archival Accessions

Morley Markson [multiple media] – [198-].

Accession Number: 2003-8-1

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2003-8-1

Material Format: multiple media

Physical Description: 6.6 m of textual records and graphic materials

Date: [198-]

Scope and Content: Accession consists of records relating to Markson's design work for the Holocaust Centre, for Jewish Family & Child Services, and for the film, Growing up in America. These records include textual records, slides, negatives, photographs, films, and sound recordings in various formats.

Use Conditions: Donor retains copyright. Material can be made available for viewing and reference at the OJA. Researchers who require copies for personal use or publication must obtain permission from donor first.; Records in off-site storage; advance notice required to view.

Subjects: Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)

Name Access: Markson, Morley

Source: Archival Accessions

Morris Fogel [object, textual record, graphic material] – [between 1939 and 1944].

Accession Number: 1978-7-6

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 1978-7-6

Material Format: object; textual record; graphic material

Physical Description: 1 document; 2 artifacts; 8 photographs : b&w ; 9 x 14 cm and 9 x 7 cm

Date: [between 1939 and 1944]

Scope and Content: Accession consists of photographs taken in the Lodz Ghetto during the Second World War, including images of Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski, chairman, and other members of the Judenrat (Jewish Council). Also included is an invitation to Rumkowski's wedding to Regina Wajnberger (Weinberger) from 27 Dec. 1941 and two Lodz Ghetto coins from 1943.

Subjects: Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)

Name Access: Fogel, Morris

Places: Lodz, Poland

Source: Archival Accessions

Nir Bareket [graphic material] – 1994.

Accession Number: 2007-3-3

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2007-3-3

Material Format: graphic material

Physical Description: 70 photographs : b&w ; 50 x 40 cm. or smaller

Date: 1994

Scope and Content: This accession consists of seventy photographs taken by Nir Bareket in 1994, documenting the March of the Living trip. This collection includes images of the participants visiting Jewish cemeteries in Warsaw and Lublin, the Jewish ghetto in Krakow, the Auschwitz Museum and Camp, Birkenau Camp, Majdanek Camp and Treblinka Camp, and finally, the Yad Vashem Museum and the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

Administrative History: Nir Bareket (né Zaidband) was born in Haifa, Palestine on May 7, 1939 to Esther and David Zaidband. Esther was of Sephardic heritage while David was of Ashkenazi heritage. Growing up, Nir had two siblings: an older brother, Yosi, and an older sister, Talila. Yosi, who was ten years older than Nir, was killed serving in the Palmach, an elite branch of the Haganah. Years later, while serving in the Israel Defense Forces, Nir adopted the surname Bareket (Hebrew for emerald) so that his name would sound more Israeli.; In 1964, Nir moved to the United States. He studied photography at the New York Institute of Photography and the New York School of Visual Art. In 1966, he became the chief photographer for Batten, Barton, Dustin & Osborne's communication design centre. In April 1967, he married Eti Belotzkervoskia; Eti and Nir's first daughter, Eedit, was born the next year.; In 1969 or 1970, the family of three moved to Geneva, Switzerland. During this time, Nir worked for Investors Overseas Services Ltd. (IOS) as their chief photographer. But while he lived in Geneva, Nir's job required him to frequently cross the border into France.; In 1971 or 1972, the family of three moved again, this time to Jerusalem. From 1972 to 1975, Nir worked for the Israel Museum as their chief photographer. In 1973, Eti and Nir's second daughter, Mika, was born.; In 1975, the family of four moved to Toronto. There, Nir started the Bareket Studio of Photography. In 1990, Eti and Nir split up.; Nir continued to be an active photographer, acting, for example, as the official photographer of the March of the Living trip, which is overseen by UJA Federation of Greater Toronto as part of the Canadian Israel Experience program. The trip, which takes place in Europe and the Middle East, operates each year and is intended to expose a new generation of Jews to two of the most significant events in modern Jewish history: the Shoah (Holocaust) and the creation of the State of Israel. The photographs he took on this trip were displayed at an exhibition held at the Koffler Centre of the Arts' Loggia Galery in 1995.; Throughout his career, Nir has taken part in approximately thity-five exhibitions that were held in a number of locations including Toronto, New York City, Jerusalem, China, and Cuba. Some of his notable displays have included the March of the Living (1995) and his series on Toronto's homeless population, which was held at BCE Place from 2000 to 2001.; Over the course of his career, Nir taught photography at several institutions including George Brown College, York University, Hebrew University, the Israel Museum, and the New York Institute of Photography.; Nir died on May 12, 2015. He left behind longtime partner Wendy Wright; daughters Eedit and Mika; and grandchildren Dar, Kallee, and Carmelle.

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

Subjects: Holocaust memorial tours; Cemeteries

Name Access: Bareket, Nir, 1939-2015

Source: Archival Accessions

Alfred Talbot Longmore photographs [graphic material] – 1945.

Accession Number: 2011-3-1

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2011-3-1

Material Format: graphic material

Physical Description: 7 photographs : b&w ; 8 x 8 cm and 7 x 9 cm

Date: 1945

Scope and Content: Accession consists of seven photographs taken by Alfred Longmore at Bergen-Belsen Concentration camp in 1945. The images are extremely graphic and document desecrated bodies, several mass graves and German soldiers loading corpses onto a truck.

Custodial History: The photographs were in the possession of Larry Longmore, the son of Alfred Talbot Longmore. They came to the archives via John Komlos, a docent at the Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre.

Administrative History: Alfred Talbot Longmore was born May 1923. From 1943 to 1945 he was a Corporal in the Royal Canadian Air Force, stationed in England and assigned to a British unit. He was trained to rewire incoming planes after action at the front. Longmore was an amateur photographer and film developer and acquired film equipment during the war through the sale of contraband cigarettes. At the end of the war he volunteered for clean up and burial detail at Bergen-Belsen Concentration camp. Volunteers from all three branches of the armed forces were selected for this task. As part of the process, German SS guards were forced to participate in order to remove any deniability on their part of the atrocities committed.; Longmore was not Jewish. He died in February 2007 and is survived by his wife Aileen Mary and their four children, Robert, Susan, Larry and Judy.

Subjects: Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)

Source: Archival Accessions

Holocaust Education Centre|Gerda Frieberg [multiple media] – 1945, 1965-2003.

Accession Number: 2012-3-8

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2012-3-8

Material Format: multiple media

Physical Description: 58 photographs (tif) and other material

Date: 1945, 1965-2003

Scope and Content: Accession consists of records documenting the establishment and activities of Toronto's Holocaust Memorial and Education Centre as well as the personal life and professional activities of Gerda Frieberg. Holocaust Education Centre records include audiovisual material, sound recordings, meeting minutes, financial records, booklets and brochures, photographs, and flyers. Of note is a video of the opening and dedication of the Holocaust Museum in 1985 and the sheet music and sound recordings of the musical score Gerda commissioned for the centre by Srul Glick.; Records in the Gerda Frieberg fonds document her involvement with the Holocaust Education Centre, the Jewish Holocaust Survivors of Canada, B'nai Brith Women, the Federation of Jewish Women's organizations, and her other activities. Included are photographs, newspaper clippings, meeting minutes, and correspondence. Also included is a sound recording from a Federation of Jewish Women's Organizations event and a DVD copy of the film "Mend the World," a CBC documentary that features Gerda and other Toronto Holocaust survivors. The electronic images were scanned from Gerda's personal scrapbooks.

Custodial History: Records were in the possession of Gerda Frieberg until she donated them to the OJA in 2012.

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: Includes 4 audio cassette tapes, 4 VHS tapes, 3 DVDs, 3 cm of textual records, and 8 photographs.

Subjects: Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)

Name Access: Frieberg, Gerda

Source: Archival Accessions

Lou (Leizer) Hoffer [textual record] – 2016.

Accession Number: 2016-2-13

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2016-2-13

Material Format: textual record

Physical Description: 1 folder of textual records

Date: 2016

Scope and Content: Accession consists of a typed account of Lou Hoffer's experience as a Holocaust survivor in Transnistria. The account was written on the occassion of the establishment by Lou and Magda Hoffer of the Transnistria Forest Grove in Jerusalem through the Jewish National Fund (JNF). Also included is a printout of a photo of Lou and Magda alongside a brief description of the JNF gift and the original certificate presented to the Hoffers from JNF.

Subjects: Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)

Name Access: Hoffer, Lou; Hoffer, Magda

Source: Archival Accessions

Transnistria Survivors' Association [moving images] – 2006-2007.

Accession Number: 2016-4-16

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2016-4-16

Material Format: moving images

Physical Description: 3 DVDs

Date: 2006-2007

Scope and Content: Video recordings of Transnistria Survivors' Association's annual commemomoration ceremonies (Haskara) that took place at Shaarei Shomayim Synagogue in Toronto in 2006 and 2007.

Administrative History: Founded in 1994, the Transnistria Survivors’ Association works to provide a voice for and raise awareness of a lesser known group of Holocaust survivors. Transnistria was the Romanian authorities’ name for the former Ukrainian region located between the Rivers Dniester and Bug. It was placed under Romanian administration following the German and Romanian conquest of Ukraine in the summer of 1941. Prior to the Second World War, Romania was home to the third largest Jewish population in Europe; but beginning with the Citizenship Revision Laws of 1938, the Jews of Romania were deprived their citizenship rights and became the targets of repressive antisemitic policies and laws. Neighbours turned on neighbours. Thousands of Jews were murdered in pogroms, either by Romanian or German troops, Nazi Einsatzgruppen, or the local population. In 1941, the Jews who remained alive in the Provinces of Bucovina and Bessarabia were deported to camps and ghettos in Transnistria. Thousands were jammed into freight trains while others were marched by foot. Many died along the way. Between 1941 and 1944, it is estimated that German and Romanian authorities, along with Ukrainian collaborators, murdered or caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Romanian and Ukrainian Jews in Transnistria. Some of those who survived these tragic circumstances, especially from Bucovina and Bessarabia, and made a new home in Toronto gathered together to lend each other support and to tell their largely unknown story of oppression and survival. The Transnistria Survivor’s Association organized yearly Hazkarah (memorial) services and its dedicated members continue to share their extraordinary stories of survival through speaking engagements at schools, colleges and synagogues. Past presidents include:; 1. Felicia (Steigman) Carmelly; 2.Osias Nadel; 3.Etti Ziegler; 4.Lou (Leizer) Hoffer; As of 2017, the current President is Joe Leinburd.

Subjects: Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)

Name Access: Transnistria Survivors Association; Hoffer, Lou

Places: Transnistria (Ukraine : Territory under German and Romanian occupation, 1941-1944)

Source: Archival Accessions

Nate Leipciger [multiple media] – 1974-2016.

Accession Number: 2017-6-1

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2017-6-1

Material Format: multiple media

Physical Description: 95 cm of textual records; 42 photographs : b&w and col. ; 9 x 13 cm and 10 x 15 cm; 5 audiocassettes

Date: 1974-2016

Scope and Content: Accession consists of the records documenting Nathan Leipciger's role as the Chairman of the Holocaust Remembrace Committee, as well as his affiliation with other Holocaust commemoration organizations in Poland and Toronto. Organizations documented in this collection include: the Canadian Jewish Congress Holocaust Remembrance Committee and its Education Sub-Committee, the March of the Living, Yad Vashem, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., the State Museum of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the International Council to the Museum of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Christian-Jewish Dialogue of Toronto, the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews, the Board of Education of North York, and the Holocaust Memorial and Education Centre (now Neuberger). Events documented include Yom HaShoah programs, the Canadian Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and Their Children, and Holocaust Education Week. Records include Holocaust Remembrance Committee meeting minutes, correspondence (including correspondence between Mr. Leipciger and the director of the museum at Auschwitz), programming material, curriculum development material, event flyers, newsclippings, synagogue newsletters featuring published memoirs by Mr. Leipciger. Also included are architectural drawings of the Holocaust Memorial and Education Centre (now Neuberger), one copy of a small book entitled, "60 Days for 6 Million," published by Tribe UK, and five audiocasettes of recordings from the 22nd International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies conference on the topic of the shared history of Poles and Jews (August 2002, Toronto, Ont.).

Administrative History: Nate Leipciger was born in Chorzów, Poland, in 1928. He survived the Sosnowiec Ghetto and the camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Funfteichen, GrossRosen, Flossenberg, Leonberg, and Dachau. Nate and his father were liberated in May 1945, and immigrated to Canada in 1948. In Toronto Nate attended high school and eventually obtained a university degree in engineering. He later established an engineering firm with several partners. In 1982, Nate chaired the Toronto Holocaust Remembrance Committee, later becoming an executive member of the Canadian Jewish Congress National Holocaust Remembrance Committee. Nate was a member of the International Council to the Museum of Auschwitz-Birkenau for fifteen years and has been an educator on March of the Living trips to Poland and Israel for fifteen years. In 2015, The Azrieli Foundation published Nate's 280-page memoir "The Weight of Freedom" as part of their series of Holocaust memoirs by survivors in Canada. In 2016, Mr. Leipciger guided Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on a tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Descriptive Notes: General: Contains photographs of the Holocaust, some of which may be disturbing.

Subjects: Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)

Name Access: Leipciger, Nate, 1928-

Places: Poland; Toronto, Ont.

Source: Archival Accessions

UJA Federation of Greater Toronto [graphic material, textual record] – 2010-2018.

Accession Number: 2018-3-6

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2018-3-6

Material Format: graphic material; textual record

Physical Description: 87 photographs : col. ; 15 x 10 cm; 1 folder of textual records

Date: 2010-2018

Scope and Content: Accession consists of various photos and commemorative books documenting the Tommorow Campaign's L'Chaim celebrations, Holocaust Education Week (2011), the openining of the Joseph & Wolf JCC (2012) and the memorial service program and condolence book created for Barry and Honey Sherman. Included are two photo albums of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto's Tommorow Campaign L'Chaim celebrations honouring Sarah and Chaim Neuberger in 2010 and the Gottdenker Family in 2011. Also included are photos of the 31st Annual Holocaust Education Week on Accountability: 50 years since the Eichmann Trial including the opening night program held on 1 Nov. 2011 at Holy Blossom Temple with historian Deborah E. Lipstadt; a panel discussion on the behavior of German business leaders with Professors Peter Francis Hayes, Doris Bergen and Michael R. Marrus held at the University of Toronto's Munk School for Global Affairs on 3 Nov. 2011; and the closing program and Kristallnacht commemoration with Tami Raveh Hausner, at Beth Tzedec Synagogue, 9 Nov. 2011.; Also included is a commemorative program book in celebration of the grand opening of the Joseph & Wolf Lebovic Jewish Community Campus Phase II on October 14, 2012 and a program from the memorial service for Barry and Honey Sherman (12 Dec. 2017) along with a book of condolences and photos in loving memory of Honey and Barry Sherman.

Custodial History: Photo albums and grand opening commemorative program book were donated by Dara Solomon, Executive Director of the Holocaust Centre and the Ontario Jewish Archives.; Condolence book in memory of Honey and Barry Sherman was donated by Natalie Walden.; Memorial service program transferred by Dara Solomon, Executive Director, Ontario Jewish Archives

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

Subjects: Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)

Name Access: Sokolsky, Ted; Wolfe, Elizabeth; Sherman, Barry; Sherman, Honey; Goldfarb, Mira; Hayes, Peter F. (Peter Francis), 1947-; Bergen, Doris L.; Marrus, Michael R., 1941-; Lipstadt, Deborah E.; Hausner, Tami Raveh

Places: Toronto (Ont.)

Source: Archival Accessions

Yeshiva Yesodei Hatorah [textual record] – 1995.

Accession Number: 2007-11-7

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2007-11-7

Material Format: textual record

Physical Description: 3 cm of textual records

Date: 1995

Scope and Content: Accession consists of one dinner invitation and journal entitled "From Tears to Triumph" presented by the Yeshiva Yesodei Hatorah at a testimonial dinner marking fifty years since the end of the Second World War. The dinner was in honour of the survivors of the Holocaust and their impact on religious life in Toronto. It was held at the Regal Constellation Hotel in Toronto on Sunday, April 2, 1995 and featured Rabbi Ezriel Tauber as guest speaker. The journal features stories of survivors and photographs depicting Jewish religious life in Europe during and after the Second World War.

Administrative History: Yeshiva Yesodei Hatorah was founded in 1945 as Shlomei Emunei Yisroel. It was founded as a school for boys by survivors of the Holocaust who immigrated to Canada with their children.

Descriptive Notes: Shlomei Emunei Yisroel

Subjects: Education; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)

Name Access: Yeshiva Yesodei Hatorah (Toronto, Ont.)

Source: Archival Accessions

Transnistria Survivors Assocation [graphic material (electronic), textual record] – 2005-2012.

Accession Number: 2013-9-1

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2013-9-1

Material Format: graphic material (electronic); textual record

Physical Description: 3 photographs (tiffs) : col.; 1 folder of textual records

Date: 2005-2012

Scope and Content: Accession consists of graphic material and a textual record documenting the Transnistria Survivor Association. Included are three photos: 1) Member Arnold Buxbaum standing in front of Memorial for Transnistria at Earl Bales Park; 2) Arnold Buxbaum and Joe Leinburd at UJA Foundation Event, 2011-12; 3) Hazkarah, 2005 at Sharei Shomayim Synagogue. There is also a speech by Arnold Buxbaum presented in 2011 at Sharei Shomayim Synagogue.

Custodial History: Originals were loaned for reproducing.

Administrative History: Founded in 1994, the Transnistria Survivors’ Association works to provide a voice for and raise awareness of a lesser known group of Holocaust survivors. Transnistria was the Romanian authorities’ name for the former Ukrainian region located between the Rivers Dniester and Bug. It was placed under Romanian administration following the German and Romanian conquest of Ukraine in the summer of 1941. Prior to the Second World War, Romania was home to the third largest Jewish population in Europe; but beginning with the Citizenship Revision Laws of 1938, the Jews of Romania were deprived their citizenship rights and became the targets of repressive antisemitic policies and laws. Neighbours turned on neighbours. Thousands of Jews were murdered in pogroms, either by Romanian or German troops, Nazi Einsatzgruppen, or the local population. In 1941, the Jews who remained alive in the Provinces of Bucovina and Bessarabia were deported to camps and ghettos in Transnistria. Thousands were jammed into freight trains while others were marched by foot. Many died along the way. Between 1941 and 1944, it is estimated that German and Romanian authorities, along with Ukrainian collaborators, murdered or caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Romanian and Ukrainian Jews in Transnistria. Some of those who survived these tragic circumstances, especially from Bucovina and Bessarabia, and made a new home in Toronto gathered together to lend each other support and to tell their largely unknown story of oppression and survival. The Transnistria Survivor’s Association organized yearly Hazkarah (memorial) services and its dedicated members continue to share their extraordinary stories of survival through speaking engagements at schools, colleges and synagogues. Past presidents include:; 1. Felicia (Steigman) Carmelly; 2.Osias Nadel; 3.Etti Ziegler; 4.Lou (Leizer) Hoffer; As of 2017, the current President is Joe Leinburd.

Subjects: Societies; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)

Name Access: Transnistria Survivors Association; Buxbaum, Arnold; Leinburd, Joe; Hoffer, Lou

Source: Archival Accessions

Transnistria Survivors' Association [textual record] – 1994-1998.

Accession Number: 2014-8-6

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2014-8-6

Material Format: textual record

Physical Description: 1 folder of textual records

Date: 1994-1998

Scope and Content: Accession consists of a book of documents related to the Transnistria Surivors' Association, including correspondence, memos, contracts, financial statements and meeting minutes.

Subjects: Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Societies

Name Access: Transnistria Survivors' Association (Toronto, Ont.); Hoffer, Lou

Source: Archival Accessions

Lou (Leizer) Hoffer [textual record, graphic material] – [ca. 2000]-2016.

Accession Number: 2017-2-23

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2017-2-23

Material Format: textual record; graphic material

Physical Description: 1 folder of textual records; 5 photographs

Date: [ca. 2000]-2016

Scope and Content: Accession consists of textual and graphic material documenting Lou Hoffer's involvement with the Transnistria Survivors' Association and the Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre. Included are photographs of Lou with student groups at OISE and Havergal college, an image of Lou lighting a candle with a bar mitzvah student as part of the Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre's Bar/Bat Mitzvah Project of Remembrance. Accession also includes a flyer, newspaperclippings and thank you cards.

Administrative History: Lou (Leizer) Hoffer is a Holocaust survivor who is a past president of the Transnistria Holocaust Survivors' Association and was a speaker with the Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre in Toronto.; Lou was born in 1927 in Vijnitz, Northern Bucovina, Romania to David and Chaya Sure Drassinover Hoffer. During the Second World War, Lou and his family was deported (along with all the Jewish people in his town) to the death camps of Transnistria (a territory in Ukraine). He was liberated in 1944.; After the war, Lou, his parents and his younger brother, Joe, wandered through various displaced persons camps in Europe. They eventually immigrated to Canada in March 1948 on the ship Nea Helas. He married Madga (nee Pressburger) in 1959. Together they had three sons and one daughter.

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

Subjects: Societies; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)

Name Access: Hoffer, Lou; Transnistria Survivors' Association (Toronto, Ont.)

Source: Archival Accessions

Abraham Najahaus [textual record] – 1963-1980.

Accession Number: 2017-11-4

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2017-11-4

Material Format: textual record

Physical Description: 7 cm of textual records

Date: 1963-1980

Scope and Content: Accession consists of two items pertaining to the history of the Jewish community of Radom Poland including a book entitled The Book of Radom: The Story of a Jewish Community in Poland Destroyed by the Nazis, edited and complied by Alfred Lipson and published in 1963 by the United Radomer Relief of the United States and Canada Inc. In addition, there is a fifty-fifth anniversary booklet published in celebration of the establishment of the Radomer Mutual Benefit Society of Toronto.

Administrative History: Abraham Najahaus (1910-2007) was born in Radom Poland on 14 July 1910. He emigrated to Toronto in 1948 with his wife Genya Najahaus (née Goldstein, 1910-1987) and infant daughter Helen Najahaus. Genya Goldstein was born on 14 December 1916 in Otwok, Poland. She met and married Abraham in Russia during the Second World War and had their first child Helen in 1947 while living in a DP camp in Stuttgart, Germany. After emigrating to Toronto in 1948, they had a second child Morrey Najahaus. Abraham worked as a tailor and was employed by Wilson Garments at 119 Spadina Avenue.

Subjects: Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Societies

Source: Archival Accessions

William Ladner [graphic material, textual record] – [192-?]-[2003?].

Accession Number: 2018-8-15

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2018-8-15

Material Format: graphic material; textual record

Physical Description: 27 photographs : b&w and col. ; 10 x 15 cm or smaller; 1 folder of textual records

Date: [192-?]-[2003?]

Scope and Content: Accession consists of material documenting William Ladner's family in Europe and his immigration to Canada. Included are photographs of his family, his immigration identification card, certificate of Canadian citizenship, and a fax from he received from his paternal uncle in the United States.

Administrative History: William Ladner is a Holocaust survivor, born en route from Austria to Antwerp, Belgium in 1940. As a child, William Ladner and his mother fled to Belgium from their home in Austria following the arrest of his father by the Nazis. Will's parents had attempted to immigrate to Switzerland but were turned away. Both of Will's parents perished during the Holocaust. William's father was an [electrician] and his mother a nurse. At the time of their immigration, Belgium was occupied by Germany having capitulated on the terms of unconditional surrender on May 28, 1940. Germany invaded Belgium and Holland on May 10, 1940 (Plan Yellow). Desperate for work, Mrs. Ladner reported to an employment office but was quickly discovered to be Jewish and deported to Malines. Deportation trains from Malines to Auschwitz began on August 4, 1942. Will has records documenting the movement of his parents during the war up until their deaths. Will's mother arranged for his safekeeping during the war by placing him in an orphanage operated by a Catholic Convent before she was deported to Auschwitz where she was murdered. After the war, arrangements were made by a cousin [Schindler] who worked for the British Intelligence in Birmingham, as well as William's mother's sister, who resided in Birmingham, England. Will Ladner immigrated to England in January 1946 to join his aunt. He then moved to Canada.; Photo captions; 001: Kurt Ladner and Willie Ladner reunite, (Dedham, Massachusetts), ca. 2003; 002: Willie Ladner (back) reunites with his paternal uncle Kurt Ladner, and Kurt’s wife Elizabeth Newman, (Dedham, Massachusetts), ca. 2003; 003: Passport photo of Willie Ladner, (Willowdale, ON) 25 Apr. 1997; 004:J Portrait of Berta Berger, (Vienna, Austria), ca. 1938. Written on reverse “Bertha Berger married Ladner, born 30. May 1919 in Vienna Austria.”; 005: Willie Ladner in orphanage attire, (Antwerp, Belgium), ca. 1945. Written in German on the reverse: “Meinem Liebsten Groszmutterchen, Millionen Kusse, Harry William Ladner.”; 006: Willie Ladner (right) holding hands with another child at the orphanage, (Antwerp, Belgium), ca. 1945; 007: Portrait of Berta Ladner with her infant son Willie Ladner, (Antwerp, Belgium), 1940.; 008: Portrait of Berta Ladner, (Vienna, Austria), [1935?].

Descriptive Notes: Related groups of records external to the unit being described: Other records relating to William Ladner and his family can be found in Accession 2018-8-5.

Subjects: Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Orphans

Places: Belgium; Austria

Source: Archival Accessions

Carson Phillips [textual record] – 2003-2005.

Accession Number: 2018-11-11

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2018-11-11

Material Format: textual record

Physical Description: 2 scrapbooks

Date: 2003-2005

Scope and Content: Accession consists of two scrapbooks documenting Carson Phillips' work in the field of Holocaust education. The scrapbooks contain newspaper articles; promotional postcards; Yom HaShoah remembrance cards; newsletters; and correspondence, much of it related to an exhibition titled Janusz Korczak and the Children of the Warsaw Ghetto. The latter was presented by the Regional Jewish Communities of Ontario, a partnership between UJA Federations Canada and Canadian Jewish Congress, Ontario Region. Holocaust survivor Max Eisen features prominently in many of the articles.

Administrative History: Carson Phillips earned his doctor of philosophy degree from York University. Since 2008, he has served as managing director of the Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre. He is the recipient of several awards including the 2013 BMW Canada Award from the Canadian Centre for German and European Studies at York University. He also serves on the editorial board of Prism: An Interdisciplinary Journal for Holocaust Educators.

Subjects: Education; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)

Name Access: Eisen, Max; Phillips, Carson; Regional Jewish Communities of Ontario

Places: Ontario

Source: Archival Accessions

United Restitution Organization, Toronto Office [textual record] – [195-?]-[198-].

Accession Number: 2007-3-5

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2007-3-5

Material Format: textual record

Physical Description: 12.5 m of textual material and 6 boxes of index cards

Date: [195-?]-[198-]

Scope and Content: This accession consists of 43 cubic foot boxes of closed case files as well as six boxes of index cards created by the United Restitution Organization, Toronto Office. The case files document the Article 2 (boxes 1 - 11) and Hardship (boxes 12 - 43) programs. Most of the documentation within the case files are in German.; The index cards document the BEG and Russlandfaille programs and correspond to records that were transferred to the Holocaust Museum in Washington. The files were created during the early years of the URO that were donated by URO to the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. in October, 1990. That institution has approximately 100 boxes of closed case files from the Toronto Office. The index cards DO NOT correspond to any case files that we have as part of our holdings.

Custodial History: After the Toronto URO office closed, the one case worker left moved from the second floor of the Lipa Green Building to the same floor as the OJA the end of March, 2007. Before the move, the OJA was asked to take all of the historical files that were there in boxes, listed them and transferred them to the UJA Warehouse. The index cards are in the OJA vault.

Administrative History: In Canada, the United Restitution Organization (URO) was founded in 1953 under the aegis of the Canadian Jewish Congress. The funds advanced by the Claims Conference were administered by the CJC which also gave support by providing the URO with office space and clerical staff. Offices were set up in Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver. The Winnipeg and Vancouver offices closed in the 1970s and the Montreal office remained open until 2002, after which time the active cases were sent to the Toronto office. The Toronto office officially closed on April 1, 2007. There was one case worker, however, who contintued to tend to any active claims that were left. Her position was transfered to Jewish Family and Child in 2013. The URO dealt with a variety of different types of claims. The first and largest were the BEG cases (Bundesentschaedigungsgesetz), which translates as Federal Indemnification Law for the Compensation of Victims of National Socialist Persecution. This program provided compensation for individuals persecuted for political, racial, religious, or ideological reasons who suffered long-term damage to their health, imprisonment, death of family members, loss of property, reduced income, or reduced professional advancement. The other two major programs or cases covered by the URO were the Hardship Fund and Article 2. The Hardship Fund was established during the 1960s and was open to Jews who emigrated from the former Soviet Union who were not eligible for compensation under the BEG program. The Article 2 program, in turn, arose during the 1990s, after the unification of the German government. It is still operating today and is open to Jewish victims of Nazi persecution who met a certain critiera, and those who are eligible, are provided with a pension paid out in installments every three months each year.

Use Conditions: Closed. Researchers must receive permission from the OJA Director prior to accessing the records.

Subjects: Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Nonprofit organizations

Name Access: United Restitution Organization (Toronto, Ont.)

Source: Archival Accessions

United Restitution Organization, Toronto Office [textual record] – [195-]-2012.

Accession Number: 2015-1-6

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2015-1-6

Material Format: textual record

Physical Description: 11 m of textual records

Date: [195-]-2012

Scope and Content: Accession consists of United Restitution Organization (URO), Toronto Office case files for the following funds: Hardship Fund; Hardship Fund, Pre-1965 Austrian; German Social Security (EB); German Social Security (DE); Article 2 Fund; Ghetto Lodz; and the immidiate post-Second World War Wiedergutmachung reparations. There is also a small amount of general operational files.

Custodial History: These records were left in the URO office following the departure of the URO staff person. They were boxed and moved by archives staff.

Administrative History: In Canada, the United Restitution Organization (URO) was founded in 1953 under the aegis of the Canadian Jewish Congress. The funds advanced by the Claims Conference were administered by the CJC which also gave support by providing the URO with office space and clerical staff. Offices were set up in Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver. The Winnipeg and Vancouver offices closed in the 1970s and the Montreal office remained open until 2002, after which time the active cases were sent to the Toronto office. The Toronto office officially closed on April 1, 2007. There was one case worker, however, who contintued to tend to any active claims that were left. Her position was transfered to Jewish Family and Child in 2013. The URO dealt with a variety of different types of claims. The first and largest were the BEG cases (Bundesentschaedigungsgesetz), which translates as Federal Indemnification Law for the Compensation of Victims of National Socialist Persecution. This program provided compensation for individuals persecuted for political, racial, religious, or ideological reasons who suffered long-term damage to their health, imprisonment, death of family members, loss of property, reduced income, or reduced professional advancement. The other two major programs or cases covered by the URO were the Hardship Fund and Article 2. The Hardship Fund was established during the 1960s and was open to Jews who emigrated from the former Soviet Union who were not eligible for compensation under the BEG program. The Article 2 program, in turn, arose during the 1990s, after the unification of the German government. It is still operating today and is open to Jewish victims of Nazi persecution who met a certain critiera, and those who are eligible, are provided with a pension paid out in installments every three months each year.

Use Conditions: Closed. Researchers must receive permission from the OJA Director prior to accessing the records.

Subjects: Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Nonprofit organizations

Name Access: United Restitution Organization (Toronto, Ont.)

Source: Archival Accessions

A Blessed Rage for Order : The Life & Art of Lea Vogel [moving images] – 2013.

Accession Number: 2016-4-12

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2016-4-12

Material Format: moving images

Physical Description: 1 DVD (55 min.)

Date: 2013

Scope and Content: Accession consists of one DVD copy of a film David Nimmo created regarding the life and art of his late wife, Lea Vogel-Nimmo.

Administrative History: Lea Vogel-Nimmo was born in Rozniatov, Poland in 1937. She was saved from the Holocaust as one of the "Children of Tehran" and grew up in Israel. She became an artist and travelled to various countries to study and practice art, including, Florence, Amsterdam, Jamaica and the United States. She married Dr. David Nimmo in 1974 and later moved to Toronto, Canada. She passed away in March 2012 after living with cancer for 21 years.

Use Conditions: Copyright is not held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain permission prior to use.

Subjects: Arts; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Women

Name Access: Vogel-Nimmo, Lea, 1937-2012

Source: Archival Accessions

Alexander Eisen [graphic material, textual record] – 2006.

Accession Number: 2016-11-13

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2016-11-13

Material Format: graphic material; textual record

Physical Description: 7 photographs : col. ; 10 x 15 cm; 1 folder of textual records

Date: 2006

Scope and Content: Accession consists of 7 colour photographs of Eisen speaking to students, a thank you card signed by the students and student art work in response to the Holocaust.

Administrative History: Alexander Eisen was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1929. After the Anschluss in 1938, the Eisen family fled to Hungary. In 1939, Alex’s father was arrested and fled to Palestine, leaving his wife alone with their three children. Alex and the rest of the family endured the hardships of the Budapest Ghetto, but later managed to escape and live in hiding until being liberated by the Soviet Army in 1945. He immigrated with his wife Renate to Canada in 1952. Eisen is a Neuberger Holocaust Survivor Speaker and author of A Time of Fear (2010).

Subjects: Children; Education; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)

Name Access: Eisen, Alexander

Places: Toronto

Source: Archival Accessions

Paul Brown [sound recording] – 1973-2001.

Accession Number: 2016-8-10

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2016-8-10

Material Format: sound recording

Physical Description: 177 audio cassettes

Date: 1973-2001

Scope and Content: Accession consists of material documenting the diverse interests of Paul Brown. Included are: 177 audio recordings of various talks and events, most of which pertain to Judaism, the Holocaust, and Middle East politics and were held in Toronto. Speakers include Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel; New York Times best-selling author Rabbi Joseph Telushkin; former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel Yisrael Meir Lau; and conservative talk show host Dennis Prager as well many other rabbis and prominent Jewish figures.

Administrative History: Paul Brown (1942-) was born 30 January 1942 in Toronto. As a young student, he attended Hebrew day school on Brunswick Avenue followed by North Toronto College Institute. Later, Brown majored in Psychology at the University of Toronto. After completing his undergradudate studies, he enrolled in a Master of Education program in Guidance and Counselling offered by the Ontario Institute for Sutdies in Education (OISE). Brown taught for 30 years under the North York Board of Education (NYBE) and subsequently the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). He completed his formal teaching career with eight years at Bnei Akiva Schools. Brown is a member of Shaarei Shomayim and Beth Lida Forest Hill Synagogue.

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: Mr. Brown assigned numbers to some of the cassettes.

Subjects: Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Israel; Religion

Name Access: Brown, Paul

Places: Toronto, Ont.

Source: Archival Accessions

Benzion Micfliker [textual record, textual record (electronic)] – [194-] - 2019.

Accession Number: 2019-10-2

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2019-10-2

Material Format: textual record; textual record (electronic)

Physical Description: 10 cm of textual records; 1 photograph (tiff) : b&w

Date: [194-] - 2019

Scope and Content: Accession consists of handwritten Yiddish poetry by Benzion Micfliker. Benzion (Ben) began writing poetry at the age of sixty-five after the death of his second wife Esther Micfliker (née Blutschitz). The poems, discovered by Benzion's daughter Rita, deal with personal themes of love and loss, reflections on Nazi imprisonment, liberation, relocations, Theodor Herzl, Canada, astronauts, Jewish holidays including Passover, Hanukkah, Purim, summer, nature and more. Seventeen of the Yiddish language poems have been translated into English. In addition, there is a photograph of Benzion and Esther (1940s), a detailed biography of Benzion Mickflker written by his daughter Rita, and newspaper clippings of Benzion's published poetry.

Administrative History: Benzion Micfliker (1910-1989) was born on 29 May 1910 in Chelm, Poland. He immigrated to Canada with his wife Esther and daughter Rita in 1951. Both Benzion and his wife had endured and survived the horrors of the Holocaust. They met after the war and lived in Barletta Italy in a displaced persons (DP) camp, where Rita was born. They settled in Israel for a short time and soon reunited with Benzion's sister Ita and her husband Mendel Silverman in Montreal, where Ben worked as a tailor and foreman and Esther as a seamstress. Benzion passed away at the age of 79 on 16 Jul. 1989.

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

Descriptive Notes: Language: Yiddish; Related material: 2019-10-8; 2019-12-2

Subjects: Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Refugee camps

Places: Montréal (Québec); Poland

Source: Archival Accessions

Nechemiah Knobel [textual record, graphic material] – [ca. 1940]-[ca.1995].

Accession Number: 1996-3-3

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 1996-3-3

Material Format: textual record; graphic material

Physical Description: 2.4 m of textual records and graphic materials

Date: [ca. 1940]-[ca.1995]

Scope and Content: Accession consists of the records created and/or accumulated by Nechemiah Knobel. They relate to the work of the Labour Zionist Alliance and the Borochov movement. Of note are a series of photographs documenting the unveiling of the Holocaust monument at Mount Sinai Cemetery in 1968. Identified individuals include Mayor Phil Givens, Allan Grossman, Ben Himel and Max Federman.

Use Conditions: Records in off-site storage; advance notice required to view.

Subjects: Holocaust memorials; Cemeteries; Labor unions; Labor Zionism

Name Access: Knobel, Nechemiah

Source: Archival Accessions

Celia Denov [textual record, graphic material] – 1947-1991.

Accession Number: 2015-5-1

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2015-5-1

Material Format: textual record; graphic material

Physical Description: 6 cm of textual records; 1 photograph : b&w ; 9 x 9 cm

Date: 1947-1991

Scope and Content: Accession primarily consists of records related to the immigration of Victor and Bayla Lejzerson from a DP camp in US-controlled West Germany. This includes a large block of correspondence between Victor and his cousins in Toronto, Deborah (Lejzersohn) and David Breslove who helped facilitate their immigration and work placement on a farm in Stouffville and in the garment trade. Also included are materials related to Max and Ethel Siegerman's community involvement including a Toronto Joint Board Cloakmakers Union Golden Jubilee book (1961), a Shaarei Shomayim graduation program (1958), two Adath Sholom Synagogue anniversary books (1986, 1991) and a photograph of Norman and Hinda (Richards) Tobias.

Administrative History: Celia Denov is the dauther of Max (1898-1995) and Ethel (Breslove) Siegerman (1891-1966). Max was a union leader and one of the founders of the Minsker Farband. The Minsker Farband was originally located on Cecil Street until it became the Adath Sholom Synagogue and moved north to Sheppard Ave, eventually merging with Beth Tikvah. Ethel's brother was David Breslove, a teacher, author and founder of the Toronto Jewish Historical Society. He was married to Deborah Lejzersohn and had one son. Hinda Richards was a member of the Breslove family and married her music teacher, Norman Tobias. Both were killed in a car accident in 1973. Victor and Bayla Lejerson were married in the DP camp. Both were successful in immigrating to Canada with the help of David and Deborah Breslove.

Subjects: Immigrants--Canada; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Refugees

Name Access: Breslove, David; Breslove, Deborah; Siegerman, Max, 1898-1995; Siegerman, Ethel, 1891-1966; Lejerson, Victor; Lejerson, Bayla

Source: Archival Accessions

Sam Pizel [object, graphic material] – 1939-1945.

Accession Number: 1984-5-7

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 1984-5-7

Material Format: object; graphic material

Physical Description: 1 coin; 16 photographs : b&w ; 7 x 10 cm

Date: 1939-1945

Scope and Content: This accession consists of one Mount Sinai Lodge A.F. & A.M. No. 522 G.R.C. 25th anniversary coin. The coin has the lodge's coat of arms on the recto and a set of tablets with the words "keep these and good fortune will be yours" on the verso.; Also included are 16 photographs of the Allied Forces (including the Canadian Army) at Bergen-Belsen in April 1945 following the liberation of the camp. Pictured are the general grounds, mass graves with sign markers, a group of (local German?) women crowded around the back of an army truck, army personnel observing and taking photographs of a deceased victim, a crematoria, and Sam Pizel (standing right) and other servicemen with a box of human ashes.

Administrative History: Sam Pizel (?-29 Sept. 2004) was married to Lily and was the brother of Irving Pizel.

Use Conditions: Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

Descriptive Notes: Availability of other formats: Digitized material.

Subjects: Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); World War, 1939-1945

Name Access: Pizel, Sam; Bergen-Belsen

Places: Germany

Source: Archival Accessions

Creative Department, UJA Federation, samples of communications records [textual record] – 1979-2008.

Accession Number: 2009-12-5

Source: Archival Accessions

Accession Number: 2009-12-5

Material Format: textual record

Physical Description: 60 cm of textual records

Date: 1979-2008

Scope and Content: Accession consists of six binders containing communications items created by the Creative/Communications department of UJA. The records include invitations, flyers, bulletins and programmes. They were produced for events of Annual Campaign, various Divisions, Top Gifts, Major Gifts, Women's Campaign, Impact Toronto, Leadership, missions, telethons and tribute cards. There is also a canvasser training package ("canvasser motivation"). Additional marketing materials include a Wierzbniker Friendly Mutual Benefit Society 50th Jublilee (1984) which includes a history of the organization.

Use Conditions: UJA Federation meeting minutes and general correspondence are closed for 10 years from date of creation. Contracts and donor agreements are permanently closed.

Subjects: Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Antisemitism; AIDS (Disease); Immigrants--Israel

Source: Archival Accessions