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.
Photograph depicts Ben Dayson standing between two women (possibly Israeli soldiers) and another man at Solomon's Pillars in the Arava Desert near Eilat, Israel.
Oral history interview with Miriam Matoff who was born in England, 1906. Mother’s father was Rabbi Barnett Mordechai Sheinman, born in Jerusalem. Miriam‘s husband Conrad, grew up in Montreal but was born in England. Miriam works for the Louis Briar Home and was involved in National Council of Jewish Women.
Oral History of Susan Quastel. Mrs. Quastel was born in Amsterdam in 1923. During the early part of WW2 she worked at the Jewish Hospital in Amsterdam. After the war she moved to London, where she had family. While in the UK, she trained to be a nurse at Charing Cross Hospital. She then went to Israel, where her sister lived, and worked at Hadassah Hospital. During her time in Israel, she met her husband, who was from Vancouver, at the Hebrew University. She moved to Canada with him and they got married here. In Vancouver, she worked for many Jewish organizations including Hadassah, The National Council of Jewish Women, the Vancouver chapter of Canadian Friends of The Hebrew University, and the Zack Gallery.
Oral history interview with Pnina Granirer. She was born in 1935 in Romania. During WW2 she went to a Catholic school because Jews weren’t allowed to go to school. Pnina left Romania in 1950 and moved to Israel. She went to architect school but wanted to be an artist. She worked as an illustrator. She moved to Canada with her husband because of work. They originally thought they would move back to Israel, but it did not happen. Pnina is a successful painter and has taught throughout her life.
Oral history interview with Allan Nortman, interviewed by Jennifer Yuhasz, in preparation for the 2014 Scribe with a focus on Jewish scrap metal dealers. Allan speaks on his family’s history, explaining how he came to be born in Haifa, Israel, in 1951. Following their short time in Israel, his family moved to England for a few months before setting in Vancouver in 1953. He speaks on his own career as well as his father’s though his own memories from his childhood.
Oral interview with Rotem Tal and Itamar Shani. Interviewed by April Thompson for the Feeding Community podcast. Having both immigrated from Israel, Rotem and Itamar together own Chickpea, a Mediterranean food truck and restaurant in Vancouver, BC.