Library and Academic Services: Anti-Racism Learning Toolkit: Exclusion of Jewish Refugees (1939)

Featured Titles

None is too many: Canada and the Jews of Europe, 1933-1948 by Abella, Irving M; roper, Harold Martin
Location: D 810 .J4 A34 (Notre Dame Campus)

One of the most significant studies of Canadian history ever written, None Is Too Many conclusively lays to rest the comfortable notion that Canada has always been an accepting and welcoming society. Detailing the country’s refusal to offer aid, let alone sanctuary, to Jews fleeing Nazi persecution between 1933 and 1948, it is an immensely bleak and discomfiting story – and one that was largely unknown before the book’s publication. (From the Preface)
Canada's Jews by Gerald Tulchinsky
Location: eBook

Publication Date: 2018

Canada's Jews covers the 240-year period from the beginnings of the Jewish community in the 1760s to the present day, illuminating the golden chain of Jewish tradition, religion, language, economy, and history as established and renewed in the northern lands.
A History of Antisemitism in Canada by Ira Robinson
Location: eBook

Publication Date: 2015

This state-of-the-art account gives readers the tools to understand why antisemitism is such a controversial subject. It acquaints readers with the ambiguities inherent in the historical relationship between Jews and Christians and shows these ambiguities in play in the unfolding relationship between Jews and Canadians of other religions and ethnicities. It examines present relationships in light of history and considers particularly the influence of antisemitism on the social, religious, and political history of the Canadian Jewish community.

Featured Videos

Trudeau delivers official apology for Canada's role in the MS St. Louis
The Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler tested the limits of Canada's humanity in the lead up to the Second World War and Canada's government failed that test "miserably," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. Trudeau made an apology in the House of Commons for the 1939 decision by the Canadian government to turn away a boatload of German Jews seeking refuge from the Nazis. Sol Messinger was one of the passengers on the MS St. Louis. He was just a boy then. And in the end, one of the lucky ones. Messinger told CBC about his memories of that time and why the prime minister's apology matters.

Featured Articles

Daughter of MS St. Louis passenger welcomes apology
Annette Wildgoose's mother among 900 Jewish refugees turned away from Halifax in 1939
MS St. Louis survivor says Canada's apology 'a good thing,' but it won't salve emotional scars
Sol Messinger narrowly escaped Nazis after Canada turned him away as a child refugee.
The MS St. Louis: A survivor's story
Annette Wildgoose's mother, who was born Alice Meister, settled in Scotland after she and hundreds of other Jewish passengers aboard the MS St. Louis were refused entry to Canada in 1939. Most of the ship's occupants died in the Holocaust after being sent back to other European countries.

Web Resources

MS St. Louis
On 7 June 1939, 907 Jewish refugees aboard the MS St. Louis were denied entry to Canada. The ship returned its passengers to safe harbour in four European countries. Sadly, 254 of its passengers later perished in the Holocaust.
The stain of antisemitism in Canada
Did you know that in the not‐too‐distant past, Jewish people living in Canada were discouraged from visiting certain vacation spots or from purchasing or renting vacation properties?

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