CANADA AND THE HOLOCAUST
The Saint Louis William Lyon Mackenzie King (PM) sympathetic to
German Jews but convinced they would threaten national unit and his party’s political support where gov’t opposed all immigration
Tragedy showed depth of anti-Semitism in Canada Spring 1939 >900 Jews leave Germany on boat Initially bound for Cuba trying to avoid persecution but
turned away Appealed to help of Canada and US Both refuse to accept them Forced to sail back to Europe into occupied territory More than half killed by Nazis
The Children
> 1 million persecuted and murdered by Nazis between 1933 and 1945
Anne FrankDiary chronicled life in hiding at 13 for 2 yearsSent to Westerbork transit camp and killedFather only one to surviveDiary published as memoir and testimony
Canada’s Role
Between 1933 and 1945 opened doors to <5,000 Jewish people
Anti-Semitism in Canadian government Cdn immigration officer F.C. Blair in 1930s
encourages Hitler to find “domestic solutions” to the ‘Jewish problem’
Canada uses immigration act to exclude Jews and other ‘undesirable’ ethnic groups until 1948
Jewish Refugees in 12 years of Nazi rule….Country # of Jewish Refugees
United States 200,000
Palestine 125,000
Britain 70,000
Argentina 50,000
Brazil 27,000
China 25,000
Bolivia and Chile 14,000
CANADA 5,000
Denied Jews to public facilities in Toronto during 1920s and 1930s
RIGHT: Montreal
Postwar Immigration into Canada “None is too many” – Cda official regarding how
many Jews to let into Canada Start to change in 1940s
Need for workers in Cdn factoriesI.e. not for humanitarian reasons but for economic
reasons Pleas from Jewish community
Govt allows 1000 Jewish war irogans New Immigration Act in 1952 allowed more
Jewish immigrantsUp to 40,000 Holocaust survivors made Canada their
new home
What Canada Knew
Letters from refugees desparate to escape
Extensive press coverage 1938 Blair writes aknowledgement that
Jews facing discrimination 1942 ‘Final Solution’ was discovered July 1944-April 1945 forces helped
liberate camps At that point, full knowledge disclosed