The Montreal Shtetl- Making Home After the Holocaust by Zelda Abramson and John Lynch is a groundbreaking essential work, both for content and methodology. It is a study of the immigration of Eastern European Jews into Montreal and their integration into Canadian society, after the Holocaust. Most arrived with very little money, normally speaking Yiddish, Hungarian or Russia but little English. Unlike early waves of immigration in which a man would come first, establish himself and then bring over his family, post Holocaust immigrants often came as families. The Montreal Shtetl- Making Home After the Holocaust focuses on immigration from 1947 to 1954.
I first heard of today's story, 'Eli the Fanatic' by Philip Roth in one of the interviews with Holocaust survivors in THE Montreal Shtetl MAKING HOME AFTER THE HOLOCAUST Zelda Abramson & John Lynch (a book all into post Holocaust Jewish history should read).
![The Montreal Shtetl Zelda Abramson The Montreal Shtetl Zelda Abramson](/uploads/1/2/5/4/125499502/381744955.jpg)
Immigrants first priorities were a place to live and a job. The lucky ones had family or contact already in Canada to help them. The other were helped by various government and private organizations. The authors go into detail about Canadian immigration laws of the period.
Workers were especially needed in the garment trade and those with skills in this area found work right away, mostly initially as paid by pieces completed factory workers. There was no day care so where there were children normally the wife stayed home. It was normal for men to bring work home, often to be helped by his wife. The immigrants were very hard working, very family oriented and wanted very much be a success. (Ten years after arriving success meant owning a house in a decent area, kids in good schools, food anxiety long gone, often owning a business or being in managerial positions.). Just like in Israel, Holocaust survivors were often viewed by Canadian English speaking Jews as suspect.
It was wondered how they survived. The authors show how new arrivals, mostly Hungarian Jews, sometimes also but not always speaking Yiddish, stuck together. In part this was because Holocaust survivors could often only closely bond with other survivors. Third generation Canadian Jew looked down on new arrivals as ignorant and though they helped them they were not warmly welcomed. Many immigrants were in fact highly educated, having had professional positions and wealth before they lost it all. It was sad to learn that an immigrant with a degree in engineering would find his first Canadian landlord explaining what a light switch was for. There were lots of quick marriages in the immigrant community.
Many had lost their spouses in the Holocaust. Education of children, who quickly became translators for their family, was a very top priority. It was interesting to see that parents might speak Hungarian or Yiddish to each other and friends but insisted their children speak only “The King’s English”. “Between the Lines books presents new ideas and challenge readers to rethink the world around them. Our authors offer analysis of historical events and contemporary issues not often found in the mainstream.
We specialize in informative, non-fiction books on politics and public policy, social issues, Canadian and world history, international development, gender and sexuality, critical race issues, culture, adult and popular education, labour and work, environment, technology, and media.” - from the publisher. I was initially drawn to this book through my admiration for Chava Rosenfarb, whose image is in my blog side bar. After spending four years in Auschwitz and then Bergen-Belsen, five years waiting for a Canadian visa in Paris, she and her husband,also a survivor, moved to Montreal. Already a renown author, she was met with a reception by Yiddish writers.
She wrote stories related to Holocaust survivors in Montreal as well as many other great works. The Montreal Shtetl- Making Home After the Holocaust by Zelda Abramson and John Lynch helped me understand her works more.
As the Holocaust is memorialized worldwide through education programs and commemoration days, the common perception is that after survivors arrived and settled in their new homes they continued on a successful journey from rags to riches. While this story is comforting, a closer look at the experience of Holocaust survivors in North America shows it to be untrue. The arrival of tens of thousands of Jewish refugees was palpable in the streets of Montreal and their impact on the existing Jewish community is well-recognized. But what do we really know about how survivors' experienced their new community?