Renate Krakauer is a child survivor from Poland. She was born in Stanislawow, Poland just as the war began, in what was at that time the Soviet zone of occupation. Life was relatively normal until 1941, when the Nazis broke the Molotov-von Ribbentrop Pact and headed east into the USSR. Suddenly the Jews of Stanislawow […]
Archives: Oral History Project
Levenheck, Henri
Henri Levenheck was born in Strasbourg, France. When the war came, he was still a boy, ready for all that his teenage years might bring him. But the summer of 1940 saw those dreams taken away, replaced by the terrible new reality of Nazi occupation. henri and his family were forcibly evacuated from Strasbourg and […]
Levenheck, Frida
Frida Levenheck is a Holocaust survivor from France. Born in the Alsace region, Frida was a child when the war began, and her survival can be attributed to her parents – and to luck and circumstance. The family lived in the Strasbourg region, right across the Rhine River from Germany, and they were forcibly evacuated […]
Szabo, Paul
Paul Szabo was born in 1933 Hungary. His family was made up of his mother, father and sister, who was 3 years older than he. Paul’s father was a manager in charge of a small factory manufacturing plumbing fixtures. His mother was an accountant before the war, working for a pharmaceutical company. Paul and his […]
Hobbs, Murray
Murray Neil Hobbs was born in 1921 in Pickering, Ontario. He was born on a milk farm with his mother, father, and brother. At the age of seven his family moved to Toronto because of the Great Depression. Murray left school early and worked a series of jobs, including being a delivery boy. He joined […]
Hubert, Judith
Judith Hubert was born in a small town in the eastern part of Poland. Her father was an artist and her mother helped to maintain the family store. As a young girl she lived a charmed life, going to a Hebrew school and learning ballet. All of that ended abruptly in 1939: the war started when […]
Zweig, Seymour
Seymour Zweig was born in 1921 in Lodz, Poland. After the Nazis invaded, Zweig was forced to flee to Russia, where he spent the remainder of the war. In Russia, he joined the army and did war work in an aluminum factory, where he even worked alongside German prisoners of war. After the war, Zweig […]
Squigna, Victor
Victor Squigna hails from the west end of Toronto, where he grew up in the interwar years. Victor recalls that conditions in the Great Depression were not too bad for his family; he in fact had a car, and worked at the local gas station. When his 18th birthday came in 1942, Victor made his […]
Loc Le
Loc Le spent his early life in Vietnam, growing up as the war raged around him and his family. He recalls that he was not too impacted by the war in the early years, but with 1968 and the Tet Offensive, he and his family were on the move, staying ahead of the NVA and […]
Tylman, Andrew
Andrew Tylman was born in November 1933, and he grew up in the town of Sochaczew, Poland. His early life took place in a largely Jewish milieu,and the family was prosperous, vacationing in Glowno and prominent in the community. The onset of the war changed the situation dramatically; as violence in his small town began […]
Baker, Norman
Norman Baker was born September 1, 1916 in the west end of Toronto, where he attended Runnymede Collegiate. Norm’s parents hailed from Riegate, England and had emigrated to Canada before the Great War, and Norm and his two brothers were raised in the British tradition. And they were fortunate not to be impacted by the […]
Procto, George
George Procto served in Canada’s military in the years after World War Two, the “Golden Age” of peacekeeping and diplomacy. George hails from rural New Brunswick, and as he recalls, he was anxious to leave the farm and school. The military represented a different life, so he enlisted and began his travels across Canada, from […]
Barber, Andy
Andy Barber is from Montreal, where he grew up during World War Two. Not one for school, he left to find employment in the CN rail yards of Point St-Charles, where he found work as a carman’s apprentice. But the lure of the navy proved strong, and Andy joined up just as the Korean War […]
Vencel, Mike
Mike Vencel served in the Canadian Navy during the Cold War era. He joined up in the 1950s, fresh out of high school in southern Ontario, with the goal of pursuing a trade. Mike set his sights on becoming an electrician’s mate, and he served in this capacity on several ships, notably the HMCS Assiniboine […]
McDonald, Kelvin
Kelvin McDonald served in the Canadian Forces from the 1970s to the 1990s. During that time he was deployed as a peacekeeper on multiple occasions, helping to set a high bar for Canadians serving overseas. Kelvin was first deployed to Egypt, maintaining the peace along the Sweetwater Canal during the time of the Egypt-Israel 1973 […]
Foyle, Gerry
Gerry Foyle served in the Canadian Forces from the 1950s to the 1990s, building a career during the period that corresponded to Canada’s “Golden Age” of foreign policy and peacekeeping. Gerry joined up in the 50s, still a teenager, when Canada was involved in the Suez Crisis, and he went on to supply the Canadian […]
Elliott, Elizabeth
Elizabeth Elliott was born July 20, 1924; she grew up in Toronto during the 1930s and 1940s. Even with the Great Depression, she remembers her father as a driven man, one who always took his family to the countryside, even during the tough times. As a result, Elizabeth recalls that she and her siblings were […]
McLean, George
George McLean is a proud member of the 48th Highlanders. Born in prewar Toronto, George grew up in the 20s and 30s, against the backdrop of the Great Depression. When war came, George hoped to enlist alongside his comrades in the 48th, but his efforts did not come to fruition as George’s eyesight was not […]
White, Tom
Born in 1926, Tom White grew up in Toronto against the backdrop of the Great Depression. He remembers his mother’s recipes from that time period, and the afternoons spent at Saturday matinees. He also remembers his schooling, and the lessons from an Oakwood Collegiate geography teacher that were imparted to students who thought they’d soon […]
Warford, Jim
Jim Warford was in the Canadian army during World War Two. Born in England in 1922, Jim grew up in Hamilton, Ontario, against the backdrop of the Great Depression, attending school and very active in sports. Jim and a friend joined the militia before the war, knowing that war was on the way. When his […]
Gogo, Norman
Norm Gogo grew up in Toronto and Michigan, as the family moved when his father was transferred and began work in the Motor City. But the good economic times did not last, and as the Depression worsened the family returned to Canada along Hwy. 5. Back in Toronto Norm went to school in the city’s […]
Voitinsky, Evgeny
Evgeny Voitinsky served in the Red Army in the Great Patriotic War. Evgeny grew up in Leningrad before the war, but after the German invasion of June 1941, Evgeny and his mother relocated to Kazakstan, where the teenaged Evgeny adapted to the new realities of wartime life. He worked at this time in a factory, […]
Smith, Gordon E.
Gordon E. Smith was born in Humber Bay, Toronto, on March 19, 1925. He grew up in Depression-era Toronto, and left school, working on the family farm and a machine shop. In 1944, Gord joined up, knowing that he was soon to be called by the military. Initially he joined the Artillery, and completed his […]
Collens-Smith, Audrey
Audrey Collens-Smith played her own role during the Second World War…the accordion. Her job was to keep Canadians’ morale high – and to keep them entertained. Teenagers at the time, she and her sister Mary toured military bases on the home front, and played all kinds of events to keep Canadians smiling and dancing. Audrey […]
Chartre, Bob
Bob Chartre grew up in prewar Quebec, one son in a very large family. He remembers well the difficulties of the Great Depression, and even recalls that his father was happy when he and two of his brothers were called up for the war as that meant fewer mouths to feed! When Bob went into […]
Olsson, Eva
Eva Olsson grew up in Hungary, born into a Jewish family in Satu Mare, Hungary. She remembers the family’s Hasidic traditions, and the poverty and simplicity of her early life. Like other Hungarian Jews, Eva was comparatively isolated from the war raging all around them; they heard rumours and such, but as Hungary was allied […]
Castellan, Peter
Peter Castellan was born in Toronto in 1918, making him one of the centenarians that we have interviewed for the Crestwood Oral History Project. Peter grew up in the east end of Toronto, in the Gerrard/Broadview neighbourhood, where he remembers days spent at the YMCA and the local firehall, as well as the many local […]
Willcocks, Jim
Jim Willcocks celebrated his 100th birthday not too long ago, and an article in his local Orillia newspaper notes, he still likes to go out dancing. We met Jim courtesy of the Royal Canadian Legion in Orillia, and Scott Masters interviewed Jim in July 2018. Jim Second World War service took place in Canada, as […]
Murphy, Paul
Paul Murphy served in the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. Paul served aboard several ships, notably the Cobalt and the Wallaceburg, and he was involved in the RCN’s convoy system in the western Atlantic, working the triangle between New York City and Newfoundland. Paul’s ships would escort convoys in that zone, both […]
Eyres, Ardwell
Ardwell Eyres served in the Canadian Army during the Second World War. Born in Cameron, Ontario, Ardwell grew up against the backdrop of the Great Depression. His father was a farmer, so Ardwell remembered that they always had food to eat, but he was aware of the economic circumstance that befell others. Ardwell did go […]