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I was born in Upper Silesia and my earliest memories of tzedaka
was when my mother would send us to deliver food to needy
Jewish elderly in the neighboring town. We lived on the Polish
German border and witnessed the expulsion of Polish Jews from
Germany. They were left without food or shelter so my mother
offered our kitchen to prepare meals and we helped to deliver
them.
Little did I know that my happy childhood would become just
a memory with the outbreak of the war.
What followed was deportation to a ghetto in Poland, then
three years in concentration camp, and after liberation, four
years as a stateless refugee in a DP camp in Landsberg.
We arrived in Canada in 1953 and began to rebuild our life
in the shadow of horrific memories. I considered my survival
a gift to be dedicated to the memory of the victims of the
Shoa. Amidst the silence of the world the plea of the victims
REMEMBER US became a commandment.
In 1962, I began to speak about the Shoa, first in local
schools, then from coast to coast across Canada. The privilege
of serving as Chair of the Founding Committee to create the
Toronto Holocaust Centre was the highlight of 43 years of
volunteerism which included Israel Bonds, Soviet Jewry, Holocaust
Remembrance Committee, Yad Vashem, Ontario Cabinet Round Table
on Anti Racism, Federation and Chair of Ontario Region for
Canadian Jewish Congress.
I care deeply about the welfare of our people here and in
Israel and am grateful to have had the opportunity and means
to make a contribution. It is my hope that my children, Josey
and Jack, as well as my grandchildren, carry this torch into
the future.
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