Oral history interview with Dr. Jacob Narod. He was born in Vilna and talks about the antisemitism there while growing up. At 22, he escaped and went to London. Then he went to New York, but he didn’t like it so he with to St. Louis, he worked in Scaffolding there. Next, he went to Portland and then up to Vancouver in 1910. He heard that Vancouver was a beautiful city. He talks about people (names and occupations) who moved to Vancouver during that time. He took a course in Chiropody and opened and office in 1929. The depression hit and he moved to Victoria in 1936. He talks in depth about the Victoria Community with a focus on the Synagogue during the war, entertaining the Jewish soldiers and helping refugees. He moved back to Vancouver in 1949. He was an active member of B’nai Brith.
Oral history interview with Edwina Heller who was born in 1914 in Warsaw. She taught music for a number of years at the University of British Columbia.
An Oral history interview with Gertrude (Gertie) Zack (nee Fouks) who was born in 1918 in Canada. Gertie was involved in United Jewish Appeal's Women's Division, the Council of Jewish Women; and rolling bandages for the Red Cross during the Second World War.
Oral History interview with Ben and Rita Akselrod. Rita was born in Bacau, Romania. They met in a DP camp in Austria. After the war they went to Israel then came to Canada via Italy. They worked as a peddlers then with antiques. Then started a second-hand and antique store in New Westminster. They talk about how antisemitism didn't disappear after the war.
Oral interview with Nancy Halpern. Interviewed by Samantha Stokell for SLAIS Oral History class.
Nancy's father's family moved to Vancouver in 1906, when her father Norman Brown was less than six months old. She has stories of her own life in the Vancouver Jewish community and those of her grandparents and parents. She was involved in drama and theatre in the Vancouver and Spokane, WA areas, and worked as a librarian in Vancouver. She was also involved in creating the West Vancouver Jewish Community Association.
Nancy mentions her cousin's daughter, Barbara Liskov (née Huberman) from the States, a professor at MIT who was the first woman to graduate in Computer Science in the U.S., and who is a winner of the Turing Award.
Oral interview with Ralph Levy. Interviewed by Molly Kumar for SLAIS Oral History class. Ralph Levy was born in February, 1934 in Istanbul, Turkey. He is the youngest of four. He describes the language Ladino, which he speaks fluently. He lived in England as a child, where he witnessed the Blitzkrieg and attended post secondary there in Lester. He served in the British Military and was stationed in Egypt for two years. He met his wife in Lester and they were wed in 1957. After closing his marketplace business in England, he lived in the south of France till a storm struck. In 1968, he immigrated to Canada. He initially settled in Melfort, Saskatchewan, then went to Calgary, Fort McMurray and then moved to Victoria where he resided for thirty years before retiring in Vancouver.
Follow-up oral interview with Leah Levitt. Interviewed by Debby Freiman. Leah talks about her extended family, education, and her involvement with B'nai Brith Girls and the National Council of Jewish Women.
Oral history interview with Alan Tapper, interviewed by Matthew Graves and assisted by Alan’s wife, Daphne. Alan speaks on his family’s history as well as adolescence in the Jewish community of East London, England, including the artistic and political environment. Alan talks about his family’s experience during the Second World War in London where his neighborhood was heavily bombed and impoverished by rationing, leading to his family’s evacuation to Devon and Newcastle. Alan discusses his involvement in various youth groups and theatre during the war, such as the Brady’s Boy Club. He talks about his military training at Padgate and subsequent conscription into the Royal Air Force intelligence unit where he was stationed in Egypt to monitor conflict over the Suez Canal. Alan speaks about how his military experience impacted his life and also the anti-Semitism he observed. He discusses his immigration to Vancouver, Canada and his role in numerous Jewish and Zionist organizations and boards, including B’nai Brith and the Canadian Jewish Congress. He talks about his job in fundraising, teaching public speaking, and radio program hosting, as well as his children and marriage.
Interview with Longina Dimant. Longina, born as Hinda Wejgman, grew up in Warsaw, Poland. She talks about her life and her family in Poland before the Second World War, which she describes as happy. They lived in Pelcowizna, a neighbourhood in Poland, until the war. In late 1939, Longina and her family fled Poland by train to Siberia. They stopped in Małkinia for a few days before continuing on to Leninogorsk (now Ridder, Kazakhstan) where they lived for the next six and a half years. At 14, Longina began working at a brick factory. It was a difficult life and they were always hungry. After the war, Longina went to Moscow to try and speak to politician Kalinin to ask him if her family should go back to Poland or stay in Russia; he told her to go back to Poland.
