- Summary
- Between 1947 and 1955, approximately 35,000 survivors of Nazi persecution plus their dependents immigrated to Canada and were received by the 170,000 strong Canadian Jewish population. Canadian Jews, despite their efforts to assist the survivors' sponsorship, were ill-prepared to attend to them. Jewish Immigrant Aid Services (JIAS), the official welcoming agency, understood that the refugees required special treatment because of the conditions under which they lived prior to immigration. In practice, however, such special treatment was rarely delivered. The organized Jewish community absorbed the immigrants in an ad hoc manner without sufficient experience or expertise in meeting the psychological needs of trauma survivors, and operated on miniscule budgets. But despite system inadequacies and service limitations, immigration and employment agencies and their workers tried their best to support the newcomers and help them become contributing Canadian citizens. Survivors in turn imparted new cultural, linguistic, and religious perspectives, had an influence on Canadian national policy on refugee workers, and contributed to the postwar labor boom.We Were Called Greenies: Holocaust Survivors in Postwar Canada highlights the experience of immigration, resettlement, and integration from the perspective of the Holocaust survivors and those who sought to assist them. It explores the relationships between the survivors, Jewish social service organizations, and local Jewish communities, and considers how these relationships both facilitated and impeded survivor adaptation. Although focusing on the largest Jewish centers in the country - Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, and Vancouver, the study looks, too, at small communities in the Maritime provinces of the Atlantic region, and other towns across Canada.
- Format
- Book
- Author/Creator
- Goldberg, Adara Ruth R.
- Published
- 2012
- Locale
- Canada
- Notes
-
Typewritten manuscript.
Ph.D. Clark University 2012
Bibliography: leaves 316-325.
Dissertations and Theses
