Oral history interview with Reva Checov who was born in a small village in Russia in 1897. Later in life when she emigrated to Canada she went to McGill University and the University of British Columbia. Reva was involved in the Pioneer Women, National Council of Jewish Women, B'nai B'rith; Red Cross, Heart Foundation, Cancer Society ; Israeli Affairs and the Jewish National Fund among an assortment of other roles.
Oral history interview with Ruth (nee Baruch) Phillips was born in Poland in 1927. The family left Poland in the 1930's due to pogroms and growing antisemitism. Ruth's father moved the family to Vancouver in 1934 to become the principal at Talmud Torah. Ruth’s Husband, Maran Peter Phillips, ran a fish packer for Queen Charlotte Fish.
Oral history interview with Esther Brandt who was born in 1932 in Belgium. She was highly involved in a number of Jewish organizations; Pioneer Women, a member of the Schara Tzedeck Board. She outlived her husband who had survived the Nazis concentration camps.
Interview with Ivan Linde. Interviewed by Cindy Rozen. Ivan talks about his family's history, his involvement in the Jewish community, the Apartheid, and his immigration to Canada. He compares life in Johannesburg to Vancouver, and talks extensively about privilege and race relations in South Africa.
Interview with Doris Schlosberg. Interviewed by Cindy Rozen. Doris talks about her family's history, life in South Africa, and her eventual immigration to Canada. She compares life in South Africa to Canada and discusses differences in Jewish life, race, sex, and education.
Oral interview with Cheryl Kalmek. Interviewed by Debby Freiman. Cheryl talks about her family's immigration to South Africa and their involvement in the Jewish community. Cheryl was particularly involved with the Jewish Women's Benevolent Society before immigrating to Vancouver.
Interview with Ida Kaplan. Interviewed by Irene Dodeck for The Scribe, 2018. Ida talks about her childhood, her escape from Poland in World War II, her new life in Vancouver, and her business, Kaplan's Deli and Catering.
Ida is assisted by her daughter Odie in recalling events throughout the duration of the interview.
Oral History Interview with Olga Campbell for the JMABC Artists Scribe. Interviewed by Bill Gruenthal. Olga Campbell was born in Iraq in 1943 and immigrated to Canada at the age of five in 1948. She explains her family’s experience with both Russian prison camps and the Holocaust during WWII, where they eventually made it safely to Canada. She discusses her journey as a social worker turned arts professional, including her time spent at Emily Carr and Capilano arts schools. As a second generation Holocaust survivor, Olga discusses how being Jewish and the associated inter-generational trauma of Holocaust survivorship has informed her works. Olga is a mixed-media artist, working in digital and traditional mediums, including collage and sculpture. She also published her art in a book focused on her family’s experience of the Holocaust that has fostered connections to her story, shared herein.
Oral Interview with Miriam Aroeste for the JMABC Artists Scribe. Interviewed by Daniella Givon. Miriam was born in Mexico City in 1961 and she explains how her family ended up in Mexico from Poland prior to WWII. She discusses her immediate family, and how her and her husband resettled in Vancouver in 1990. Miriam talks about her career in the film industry and how she transitioned to visual arts with inspiration from her father and the need to balance her career with parenthood. She speaks about having little interest in arts, besides dance, growing up, but that changed when she lived in Europe for almost a decade during her 20s. Miriam describes her art style as more abstract than figurative and discusses her love of bright colours and the necessity of knowing what you want from an art career. She talks about curating art for Vancouver’s 2010 Olympics, selling her work, and the kinds of commissions she enjoys. Lastly Miriam discusses her time in art galleries as an artist, curator and art consultant and what she had learned about art collectors and art institutions along the way.
