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Victoria Item Wars
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Norman & Bernice Brown

Oral history interview with Norman Brown who arrived in Vancouver in 1907 and Bernice immigrated to Vancouver after marrying Norman in San Fransico in 1930. Norman attended Talmud Torah school when he was a child. Both were involved in a variety of Jewish community organizations. Bernice was president of both Federated Jewish Women and National Council of Jewish Women. Norman was president of the Canadian Jewish Council. He discusses memories of early life in Strathcona and Mount Pleasant. Interview ends with a discussion of photographs.

Ben Grossman

Oral history interview with Ben Grossman who was born in 1885 in Russia. He emigrated to Winnipeg with his family, moving later to Victoria and finding working as a car salesman. He served in the British Army during the First World War, notably in Libya as a mechanic.

Josephine Lancaster and Daisy Minchin

Oral history interview with Josephine Lancaster and Daisy Minchin, cousins, both were born in Victoria, in 1893 and 1892 respectively. The cousins recall the communities reaction, demolishing a number of Jewish businesses, to the sinking of the Lusitania in May 1915; because Victoria's Jewish community consisted of mainly Germans and Englishmen, when they found out that Lieutenant James Dunsmuir, Jr., Robert Dunsmuir's son, has perished. Josephine is a member of the Victoria Chapter Hadassah while Daisy is associated with B'nai B'rith Auxiliary in San Francisco, in L.A. divisional president of Council of Jewish Women; Florence past president of B'nai B'rith.

Dr. Jacob Narod

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.

Sam Barrett

Oral history interview with Sam Barrett who was born in Winnipeg in 1897, fought during the First World War where he sustained a life-long eye injury.

Nancy Halpern

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.

Ralph Levy

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.

Leah Levitt

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.