We Started Over Again, We Were Young

Alayna H.

This factsheet looks at the experiences of child and youth Holocaust survivors who arrived in Montreal in the immediate post-war years. The factsheet unpacks the importance of the survivors' agency as they navigated the difficulties of integration and overcoming challenges in their social worlds. The factsheet looks at different organizations and clubs that were set up to help these young men and women including the New World Club and the Jewish Public Library.

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References

Sheftel, Anna, and Stacey Zembrzycki. “‘We Started Over Again, We Were Young’: Postwar Social Worlds of Child Holocaust Survivors in Montreal.” Urban History Review 39, no. 1 (September 2010): 20–30. https://doi.org/10.7202/045105ar.

Source Authors

Anna Sheftel, Stacey Zembrzycki

Events

The Holocaust

Keywords

adult survivors, Antisemitism, Bible study, Canadian society, child/youth Holocaust survivors, community, Concentration-camp survivor syndrome, gatekeepers, Holocaust survivors, immediate post-war years, immigrant, immigrant aid organization, Immigration, independence, integration, Jewish community, Jewish history, Jews, New Life bulletin, newcomer clubs, personal agency, post-war, prejudice, rebuilding lives, social networking, social sites, social spaces, social worlds, survivor agency, survivors' voices, The People's University, trauma narratives, war orphans, world history, Yiddish literature, Yiddishe folks universitet (YIFO)

Key Figures

Ted Bolgar

Locations

Jeanne Mance House (JMH), Jewish Public Library (JPL), Montreal, New Canadian Club, New World Club (NWC), Quebec, The Young Men and Young Women's Hebrew Association (YM-YWHA)