Oral history interview with Saul Wyne who was born 1910 in Russia. The prevalence of antisemitism , worsening economic and political conditions led family to emigrate; One brother left in 1926 and settled in Edmonton. Saul's Father saw no future for his daughters in Poland so he settled them in the United States. Saul was active in Calgary's Peretz School as a board member until he and his wife Ruby moved in 1943 to Vancouver and helped start up the Vancouver Peretz School.
Oral history interview with Soli Jackson who was born in Winnipeg, 1923. His mother was born in Deliatyn, Poland then a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, now part of Ukraine. He moved to Vancouver in 1946. His brother Davey served in the Royal Canadian Air force and his brother Alex served in the Winnipeg Light Infantry, while Soli joined the Royal Canadian Naval Reserve in 1943. After having children Soli gradually became more active in Peretz School, where he noticed yearly deceases in contributions by the Jewish Federation to Peretz Schul and advocated against selling Peretz's property if the Jewish Community Federation of Canada had any stake in it for complete lack of supporting Peretz.
Oral history interview with Sam Rothstein who was born in Russia, 1921. His family left Russia due to anti-semitism and post-revolution fallout, despite his father’s success in the lumber business. His father was Yisrael Leib and his mother was Elka Raisel. They settled in Vancouver because that’s where the rest of his family had chosen to live when they had arrived years before. He attended UBC for undergraduate studies and did a joined honours program in French and English and completed his masters there in French and English. He did his PhD at Berkeley and then got a teaching fellowship at the University of Washington in 1942 as a French teacher. He was drafted into the Canadian military during WWII. He served in counterintelligence. He was shipped to England in June, 1944 and then to Italy, Belgium and then stopped in Holland. While finishing his service, he came across a Librarianship pamphlet. He had money for the first time in his life and felt it was time for a change as he felt distance from the idea of being a French professor. He was invited to the faculty of the University of Manitoba as a French Professor but decided to go to Berkeley instead to become a Librarian, doing his PhD in Illinois. UBC offered him a job while he was briefly on return to Vancouver. He met his wife Miriam in 1948/49 through youth group activities at the JCC, they wed and then moved to Illinois to do his PhD, which he received in 1954 while Miriam worked as the dietician for the men’s residence. In 1961, he became the acting director of the UBC libraries. He also started the library school at UBC that same fall. Their daughter Linda was born in 1955 and Sharon was born in 1957. They were members of Beth Israel and Miriam was active in Hadassah. Sam served as an advisor to Hillel and joined the board at the JCC and eventually became president from 1970-1972. He served as one of the vice presidents of Jewish Congress.
Oral history interview with Jack Diamond who was born in Stree, Poland in 1909. He spent much of his life in the meat business, Shochet. He helped to build the Schara Tzedeck synagogue in Vancouver.
Oral History interview with Iris Andrews. Born in 1933, Iris lived in London before moving to Vancouver once war broke out in 1940. Iris’s maternal grandfather was the first in her family to come to Canada, arriving in Vancouver in 1911. He opened a kosher bakery called Mother Hubbard Bakery on the corner of West Broadway. Iris’s maternal grandparents belonged to the Beth Israel congregation prior to the construction of the synagogue on Oak St. Her paternal grandparents were from Balaya Tserkoff, Russia (Now Bila Tserkva, Ukraine). Her paternal grandfather was a soldier in the Russian Army in the calvary before being designated a free man. Iris’s paternal grandparents arrived in England in 1903, where her grandfather began to works as a cigarette maker. Iris lived in Vancouver from 1940-1945 as war evacuee, and later returned to the city with her husband and two children in 1962. Iris was very active in the Jewish community; she was involved with Sisterhood at Beth Israel, she joined the Nordau chapter of Hadassah-WIZO, she worked as a Rabbi Secretary at Beth Israel, and she was on the committee for the Beth Israel museum.
Oral history interview with Joshua Wapp who was born in Ontario, 1969. His parents are both American but left for Canada due to politics. He works as a Cartoonist.
Oral history interview with Marvin Weintraub who was born in Poland in 1924. His father moved the entire family in 1930 to Toronto. Marvin studied chemistry and biology at the University of Toronto, doing a Master's and a PhD in botany/plant physiology and ecology. Got a job as a Virologist for the government in Eastern Canada.
Oral history interview with Harvey Gerber, who worked at Simon Fraser University as a logician when it opened in 1965. Harvey relates attaching himself and his wife to the Vancouver Jewish community, opening up a Peace in the Middle-East chapter at SFU and overall the academic climate towards Israel.
Oral history interview with Judy Zaitzow who was born in Vancouver. Her Grandfather William Seidelman was a postmaster and a shochet. Judy discusses her family history in detail through her Grandparents, parents, brother and sisters. Judy volunteers time with the Beth Israel school board, Hadassah, was door-to-door volunteer for Mothers March (forerunner of United Way), and for Heart & Stroke fund.
